


Beyond Incredible

by Yemi Hikari (Yemi_Hikari)



Series: Beyond Incredible [3]
Category: Incredibles (Pixar Movies), Teen Titans (Animated Series), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Alternate Origin Story, Angst, Awkward Crush, Bullying, Contest Entry, F/M, Family, Friendship, Girl Power, Gotham Academy, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Pansexual Koriand'r, Open Novella Contest, Open Novella Contest 2020, Past Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Romance, Slow Burn, Strange Babysitting Job, Unexpected Tallent, super powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 21,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25265437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yemi_Hikari/pseuds/Yemi%20Hikari
Summary: Violet's life is chaos. When she's not dealing with the chaos at home, she's dealing with the chaos of being bullied at Gotham Academy. More importantly, she wants to disappear so nobody - particularly her crush Dick Grayson - wouldn't notice her. When she is finally able to, she finds her life turned completely upside down.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Wally West, Dick Grayson/Violet Parr, Raven (DCU) & Violet Parr
Series: Beyond Incredible [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825288
Kudos: 6
Collections: (General) Open Novella 2020, (World) Beyond the Night (DC Comics/Batman), Focus on Female Characters, MinorFandomFest





	1. The Worst of Days

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer - I don't own Teen Titans, Young Justice or The Incredibles. This is a standalone AU spinoff for my Beyond the Night series. This is one of the stories I wrote for ONC 2020. The prompt I used was number ten, "the new kid is bulled relentlessly until they discover they actually had quite unique and unexpected talent", but I also used prompt forty-eight, "you have to babysit an eccentric family's kid for the night. Then you realize this baby is capable of doing things that normal babies should not be able to do." Note - In the Beyond the Night series, the Teen Titans came before the team in Young Justice. Miss Martian isn't yet a part of the team. One of the ways the story differs from the regular BtN storyline is that I am exploring the idea of Starfire sexuality.

Violet's life was utter chaos.

Milk dripped from the tabletop onto the kitchen floor while her mother kissed her father on the cheek. Chunks of cereal dropped from Jack-Jack's mouth onto the tray of the highchair mixing with the infant's drool. Her other brother remained quiet, too quiet for someone perpetually moving every moment of his waking hour. As such, Violet should have suspected...

A farting sound echoed through the kitchen when Violet sat down in a chair, a butter knife in one hand and a piece of toast in another. Her dark eyes which she tried hiding from the room looked right at her parents, her mortification quite evident. At first, her parents started, taking in what just occurred while more cereal dropped from Jack-Jack's mouth.

"Nice one."

Violet sucked in a breath of air, her mortification growing as her father high-fived her younger brother for pulling off a prank on his sister. Her mother's eyes narrowed slightly. "Bob."

"Oh. Sorry, Vi." Her father cleared his voice, lifting a rather large fist to his mouth indicating he was week chided. "Don't pick on your sister, Dash." Dash glared at the parental units. Bob took a deep breath deciding he would make his escape. "Well, I'd best be off. This job with Wayne Enterprises is going quite well. I don't want to ruin that by being late."

Everyone in the household knew what Bob meant – except of course Jack-Jack who began babbling at that moment. The family constantly moved because Bob couldn't keep a job, yet everyone suspected his immense strength played a role. Normal in the household meant Bob breaking something routinely.

Nobody verbalized what else they knew – neither of their parents were normal. Hiding his super strength from the kids proved impossible, what with the number of times Bob broke things other fathers found impossible to break in the same manner. Of course, once the children knew about their father, their mother didn't hide her own abilities.

"I'll take that." Their mother stretched her arm over for the whoopie cushion when Violet stood up.ma

"I'm not hungry."

"No fair!" Dash's mouth formed a pout.

"Completely fair." The cushion went into the trashcan. "Vi, would you like to take a trip to the mall with me when you get home from school?"

"No." Violet shoved her toast into the bin before heading towards the bathroom so he might change into her school uniform for Gotham Academy which hung on the back of the door.

She could hear her mother through the door. "This isn't because you don't want to be seen with me, is it?"

Violet said nothing, yet the reason – in truth – had nothing to do with a teenage girl finding her mother embarrassing for the normal reasons any teenage girl might find their mother embarrassing, let alone the _additional_ reason any thirteen-year-old might want to avoid being around their parents – the strange parents. Violet simply didn't want anyone at school to see her.

She wished she could turn invisible.

Of course, her brother also wanted a superpower like their parents in hopes he might show off. So far, Violet hadn't seen any sign of either sibling let alone herself developing any superpowers, nor did she want them for the same reasons as Dash.

"I'm off." Violet grabbed her backpack from her mother's outstretched arm – quite literally given her mother's ability to stretch her limbs – then took the piece of toast her mother offered even though she still didn't feel like eating.

"Be safe."

Her mother, of course, meant being safe on the public transportation systems of Gotham, not to mention sticking to only the route her parents expected her to take but also remaining in the safe parts of town. In truth, Violet felt safe anywhere but school; she hated school despite having once felt quite please at securing a scholarship based on her intellect.

Only, this brought quite a bit of attention to herself, nor could she avoid standing out with dark clothing as she did at her previous schools, due to her uniform. She found herself the target of the rich girls as a scholarship case.

Shoving headphones into her ears helped her avoid looking the people around her in the eye and left her feeling for a moment invisible. A tap on her shoulder made Violet freeze. Turning her head slightly, she saw one of the other students.

"Handheld devices aren't allowed you know."

Violet swallowed, recognizing the blond-haired, blue eyes girl as Bette Kane, the girl who gave Violet a tour on her first day of school. The Kane family was one of the elite families in Gotham. Her eyes darted away. "Are you trying to pick on me like the other girls?"

"What?"

Violet felt her upper body tense up, her mind pondering whether she'd said something which might make her situation at school worse.

"Is someone picking on you?"

"No." Violet shoved her headphones into the older girl's hands before scurrying away, wishing she had her black hoodie so she might shove her hands into the pockets in order that she might avoid eye contact with those around her, but settled for hiding behind her textbooks during class.

Being invisible lasted until lunch.

Milk dripped down her nose and forehead onto her school uniform. At least, she hoped the liquid plastering her long, black hair to her face was milk. Violet stood in the cafeteria at the girls who decided to dump part of their lunch on top of her head simply because they could.

She stood there, taking in the fact everyone in the school cafeteria had their eyes on her, including the daughter of the police commissioner. Worse, a pair of robin blue eyes belonging to her crush saw her standing there in complete mortification.

Somehow, she escaped from the place, dumping her tray of food on the way out. She found herself wanting a hoodie even more. She took a deep breath, leaning against her locker, taking in the quiet until...

"Hey."

Violet's eyes snapped open, a squeak leaving her lungs upon seeing Dick Grayson – the ward of Bruce Wayne standing in front of her. She ever so much wished she might turn invisible but hurried away.

Her life was definitely utter chaos.


	2. The Nightmare of All Abilities

"Mom, I need you to pick me up from school. It's an emergency."

The incident in the cafeteria was definitely mortifying, yet she thought she might escape from the chaos on her own, yet now she found herself resorting to calling her mother to come and get her.

After all, she first tried hiding from both teachers and students alike in the hallways of Gotham Academy right after the incident, although she'd failed in regard to her crush. In the back of her mind, she probably should have gone to the nurse's office in the first place rather than trying to take care of the situation on her own by cleaning up in the locker room, or so she thought when it turned out the girls who bullied her in the cafeteria actually had gym class after lunch.

She'd found herself pinned down, clinging to the wall hoping none of the girls would come looking for her because of the shower she left on; she felt like a trapped animal with no way of getting out, which in turn made her want to become invisible even more. Instead, two of the girls ran screaming to one of the female couches about some ghost in the locker room. This cleared the locker room out quickly, allowing her to sneak out before they came back with the couch.

She'd headed to her locker and reached one hand up to turn the combination lock. Reality hit her, her dark eyes catching sight of the sleeve to her school uniform.

Her hand was invisible.

"What do you mean it's an emergency? Wouldn't someone at the school call me?"

"It's a super emergency."

"I'll be right there. You know our spot."

She waited there, hoping nobody from school saw her, yet also hoping her powers didn't turn off so her mother didn't think she was making some kind of excuse to get out of school. The thought the invisibility might not ever turn off made her swallow, her mortification growing. In the long run, she hoped her mother wouldn't pry into what caused the incident to occur. In fact, she felt so ashamed of herself she wanted to go completely invisible before her mother arrived.

"Vi?"

Violet glanced up from where she stood waiting for her mother, her backpack clutched to her chest. In a way, she found herself rather glad her mother didn't ask why the school wasn't calling her yet knew her mother would pry once she showed up. One hand reached up to brush a wet lock of hair away from her forehead, her mouth twisting slightly up as she attempted to pretend everything was alright.

"Get in the car Vi."

Violet slipped in, her words going a mile a minute even though she only a few words came out. "I-can-explain."

"You don't have to."

"I'm still invisible?"

"Keep your head down so nobody can see you."

That was when the tears came. She felt ashamed that her mother felt she needed to hide her from view. She felt ashamed of having been caught in an embarrassing situation in front of her crush. She was ashamed of how close she came to ruining their lives and forcing them to move yet again. She cried while Jack-Jack babbled from the back seat, his confusion regarding why she was crying quite obvious.

"You're visible again, so you can sit up. I'll let you know if you become invisible again."

Violet sat up, wiping some stray tears away. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever for?"

"Aren't you ashamed of me?" Violet leaned against the glass window. "I want to be normal. I don't like this."

"Why would you think I was ashamed of you?" She didn't answer her mother's question. "Is this because I had you hide? That wasn't the reason, but you don't have to hide your ability when we're at home. We'll also think of some way to deal with your ability at school..."

"Avoid everybody?" Violet wiped away a bit of snot from her nose which in turn made her feel more self-conscious. Thankfully, the car was in just the right position that she could catch her reflection in the window which in turn made her realize she was turning invisible. She quickly ducked her head down.

"So. I'd offer some helpful advice from my own experience, but I'm not sure it would compare."

"Definitely not." Thankfully, the soon arrived at their home and she rested her head on the counter while her mother tackled calling the school to let them know Violet had come home not feeling well. She certainly didn't feel well.

"Hey. What's Vi doing home? How come she got to come home early?"

"Dash, your sister's not feeling well. Please leave her be."

Violet let out a sigh from where she sat at the kitchen table with her head down, finally coming back to reality. She leaned on one arm, glaring at her brother who was ever so normal while the other normal sibling babbled away. She was already dreading going to school before today, but now she dreaded even more.

"Fine." The tone of voice indicated otherwise, yet Dash didn't bother Violet like he normally would.

Eventually, Bob arrived home from Wayne Enterprises, but he greeted his family in such a jovial manner Violet found herself feeling even more down. Her mother cleared her voice. "Bob, we need to talk."

"Um, Helen, honey, what did I do this time?"

"What..." Helen let out a sigh. "You didn't do anything wrong. We do, though, need to talk about Violet's powers and what we're going to do so she doesn't end up – well, her normal life turned upside down more than it needs to be."

"Wait! Does this mean I don't have to hide my powers anymore?"

Violet lifted her head up slightly to see Dash now standing in the kitchen despite not being there a few seconds before, a rather large grin on his face. Bob's facial features twisted in guilt, which in turn resulted in Helen folding her arms across her chest giving her husband _the_ look while Jack-Jack babbled about whatever babies thought about.

In turned out Dash was caught by Bob trying to use his speed powers during a school activity, which in turn led to the two keeping this from Helen. Both were lectured about keeping _that_ kind of secret from Helen. Upon finishing, Helen sent Dash away before they discussed how they would handle Violet's powers. Hiding one's powers would be difficult but wearing the jacket would also make her stand out like a sore thumb.

Violet didn't say anything about drawing the attention of those who bullied her and instead took solace in the fact the school year was almost finished meaning she could hide in her room during summer break.


	3. Noticed

"You could have stood up for her, you know."

"What do you mean?"

Dick let out a sigh, shaking his head at Barbara. The fact she could make a difference like he couldn't went right over her head.

"Oh, don't shake your head at me like that! You could have done something as well."

"Yeah."

He didn't stick around lecturing her about how Batman didn't want him drawing attention to himself. He didn't bring up the fact her being a girl would have more of an effect than him, a guy would, nor did he mention the fact he had his own problems with some of the male students at school – particularly since he didn't want Bruce to know. He did leave the cafeteria to see how she was doing, something which wouldn't attack much attention to himself.

Of course, what happened next was the kind of thing which would draw people's attention to oneself, yet it wasn't happening to him.

The girl in front of him turned invisible, or at least she physically did. He didn't know her name, so he couldn't call out to her, letting her know about the issue, yet if he had – in the back of his mind he wondered if he would have instead made things worse if he called out her name. His robin blue eyes narrowed, before disappearing into an unused classroom so he might access the academy's security system. Taking a deep breath, he quickly stuck an earbud into his ear so nobody would hear the sound effects of his hacking program which included the sound of him laughing.

"Yeah. That's not good."

The girl was very clearly on the school's surveillance running around partially invisible. Letting out a deep sigh, he started fiddling with the footage, making sure the video appeared as if nothing happened, yet saving a video clip to his handheld for later in case he needed the clip. Thankfully, nobody else saw her while she headed towards the locker room where he lost sight of her. In the back of his mind, he hoped he wouldn't need to get Batman involved, but something told him it wouldn't be so simple.

It was bad enough he'd decided to skip his next class period, theorizing something might actually occur during the next period, given the fact she seemed quite unaware of her powers. He found his suspicions confirmed when she came out of the locker room, but not before the girls who entered hurried out of the locker room. Something occurred, yet he wasn't sure _what_ and instead continued making sure the video feed didn't show her entering or leaving.

Taking a breath, knowing full well the girl wouldn't be found out, he left the classroom before heading towards his next class period. Barbara turned, narrowing her eyes at him. "You missed last class period. You know Bruce is going to be pissed off."

"So?" In the back of his mind, he knew dealing with Bruce wouldn't be a pleasant experience if his legal guardian did find out he'd skipped class, yet he didn't want to expose the invisible girl's secret – not before she was ready to do so.

"Does this have something to do with that girl? Violet Parr?"

" _Parr. The name sounds familiar._ " He let one of his cheesy grins break across his face. "I thought you weren't interested."

"Don't put words into my own mouth. If I see something happen again, I will tell an adult."

Dick continued smiling despite the fact her words honestly bothered him, turning towards the schoolwork in front of him that his teacher expected him to finish before the end of class. " _She's never been bullied before, so she honestly doesn't understand. I mean, she's always fit in._ "

When the final bell rang, he found Alfred holding the door open for him and he slipped into the vehicle.

"Why did you skip class today?"

Dick glanced up, smiling at his legal guardian despite the fact he knew Bruce was far from happy with him. "There was something I had to take care of."

"This doesn't have to do with the Teen Titans, does it?" Bruce folded his arms across his chest while the smile fell from Dick's face. "I have a feeling you won't tell me, so you can consider yourself grounded from Robin duties."

Dick let out a sigh, slipping down in the seat. "Understood."

"You're also _not_ going to be seeing Wally this afternoon either. We're headed to the office, but I expect you to do your homework."

"Great. And the homework is already done." Dick turned his head, looking out the window so he could avoid seeing the obvious disappointment on Bruce's face. As such, he found himself in one of the conference rooms while Bruce was in another for a company meeting. He pulled up the clip, wondering if Bruce's disappointment was worth keeping the secret, yet he remembered the name Barbara mentioned. "Parr. _"_

With a flick of his finger, he typed in the name, his robin blue eyes blinking slightly when he saw a man come up on the screen. "Oh yeah. That's Mr. Incredible. Bruce said something about him not being able to hold down a job because of his abilities. He's now down in research in development under Fox. Interesting."


	4. Unpleasant Night Encounter

"We're going to get into so much trouble!"

Violet should have known Dash wouldn't let her hide away in her room for the summer, particularly when he definitely wanted to be a famous Superhero. More importantly, if Violet went with him then he wouldn't be the only one getting in trouble if they got caught. The fact he could get away much easier than Dash didn't cross his mind, but then her little brother was far more focused on not getting in trouble with their parents rather than getting in trouble with – say – the police.

Of course, even scarier than the police was the thought of Batman finding them.

Dash still wanted to sneak out of the house and play superhero, dragging her along with him despite the fact she could only partially turn invisible, leaving her clothing – including the mask she wore over her eyes visible. "I don't get why you're also wearing a mask. I mean, you can turn invisible."

"And what would happen if my powers suddenly decided not to make me invisible anymore?" Violet's voice strained slightly, her head turning so she might glance behind her as if expecting their mother might somehow discover the fact they'd snuck out for some vigilante work. "We're only doing this because you're bored!"

"Can't hear you!"

"Well, I certainly can hear the two of you!"

Violet found herself turning towards the voice. She drew in her breath, the letter emblazoned on the bright colored costume making her instantly recognize the youth above her as Robin, the sidekick of Batman. She swallowed, her eyes darting around looking for a man dressed in a much darker costume, yet she saw nobody. There was only Robin, sitting on top of one of the roofs she and Dash were climbing around on, sitting there leaning on his hand looking at them in amusement.

"It's Robin! It's Robin!" Dash hurried back down the ladder, bouncing up and down. "You're Robin."

"Um... yeah. I am." Robin hopped down from the roof landing on his feet with quite a bit of agility. He held out his hands, the smile on his face leaving. "So..."

"Could you put in a word to Flash for me? So, I can be his sidekick? Please, please, please..." Dash rushed forward, bouncing up and down, his excitement quite evident. Robin flinched slightly, making Violet narrow her eyes. The way he cleared his throat said he wasn't too thrilled with the idea of talking to the Flash about any such thing. Dash quickly changed the subject. "By the way. Why haven't we run into you before?"

Robin's eye twitched slightly. "That's really not any of your business."

"You don't have to be so mean." Violet folded her arms across her chest.

He looked at her, considering her words carefully. "Batman grounds me, okay?"

Dash's eyes blinked. "Wait? Your dad ground you?"

Violet knew full well how much Dash idolized Robin, given the fact he was a young vigilante, something Dash wanted to be, so she knew it shocked Dash that the person he idolized might get in trouble. The anger on Robin's face was quite evident. "He's _not_ my father."

 _That_ was obviously a sore subject. "Seriously..."

"Sorry. I'm not really whelming in my response to meeting you guys. It's been a rather turbing last few weeks. Bats is just super strict. Speaking of which, I was trying to warn you guys he doesn't like others doing vigilante work in his city without his permission."

"He lets you."

Robin folded his arms across his chest, a grin spreading across his face. "Let me think about that. He lets me because I'm his partner?"

"Unless he grounds you." Violet let out a sigh. "Come on. We need to get home."

"Come on Vi."

Robin's eyes narrowed, yet Dash gulped, finally no longer oblivious to the fact he was annoying the older boy. "Hey. Our secret identities are precious. By blabbing your sister's name out like that, even a nickname, you run the risk of people figuring out who she is. You not only place her in danger but the rest of your family."

"Oh." A grin spread across Dash's face. "Beat you home V... whoever you are!"

Dash hurried off, but Violet remained standing there, her fists clenched. "You say that, but you happen to know our identities, don't you?"

She heard him sigh but didn't see his facial experience. "Good grief. Everyone knows Batman is the world's greatest detective. He..."

Violet turned, pointing her finger at him, tears in her eyes. "You're not him! You've no right to go prying into my personal life like that." She watched his facial features twist in surprise. She stepped forward, poking him in the chest. "You – you think that I should be thankful to you? Well, guess what! I think you're a jerk."

"Wait..."

"Yeah. It might surprise you to hear this, given the fact some genius and not a freak like me..."

"Hold on..."

"No! I don't appreciate the fact you're stalking me, so let me make this clear! I'd rather date the leader of the Teen Titans than you." Of course, the only thing she knew about any of the Teen Titans was that the superhero community recognized them as a bunch of freak kids that the Justice League made the decision of disbanding. She'd heard her mother and father discussing this in great length, both glad none of their children were doing the vigilante thing – although they might both have heart attacks knowing what she and Dash were doing, even if they'd not yet caught any criminals.

"You know about the Teen Titans." He definitely seemed disconcerted regarding the matter. "Well. That really puts the dis in disconcerted, doesn't it?"

"You wouldn't know what it's like being a freak! That's what they're known for, but that's where I would have fit in if the Justice League hadn't disbanded them!"

"I..."

"So, just leave me alone." Violet turned on her heals, leaving for home. She buried her head in her pillow. She didn't know who she was angrier at – Robin for stalking her, or Dash for dragging her out. She decided she'd continue hiding in her room even though Dash might get in trouble, her mind thankful that the summer was almost over, only to remember her problems at school.


	5. Truly, Finally, Invisible

There was no getting around the dreadful start of school which loomed ahead of her, not with how her powers only allowed herself to become invisible while everything else remained visible. Her grades also dropped slightly towards the end of the semester, making her wonder if she'd lose her scholarship. On one side, this would allow her to return to a life where she could hide behind dark clothing, yet on the other hand, she would still find herself dealing with her powers, but more importantly...

" _So, what school did you transfer from?"_

_"Gotham Academy."_

Now, if they'd moved away from Gotham, saying this might not come across in the same manner as transferring to the public school she would have been slated for. In the back of her mind, she knew what getting kicked to the curb meant, let alone how the students in public school would take the news, not to mention this would make her _very_ visible.

No matter how she looked at it, she lost – big time.

"Come on Vi! Are you done in the bathroom yet! I've got to use the bathroom!"

Violet let out a sigh, rolling her eyes at her younger brother before opening the door. Dash dashed in, pushing her out of the door before quickly slamming the door shut. "You know, there's a bathroom upstairs, right?"

She shook her head, letting out a sigh, going and sitting down at the kitchen table while her mother set her breakfast in front of her. Jack Jack babbled at her, quite happy with his life, making her wish she was a small child again who didn't have to worry about such things. A knock on the door drew her attention. "I'll..."

"Vi – you're invisible."

"Oh." Violet stirred her cereal with a spoon, suddenly very uninterested in eating anything. In the back of her mind, she wished she could, in fact, have a normal life and be like a normal girl. Her mother's suggestion of going to the mall after school the day she'd gained her powers now felt like something which could never happen again, nor could she do that with any friends she made, not without fearing that something might go wrong.

Her mother stopped stretching her arm and headed towards the kitchen door, peeking out to see who was there. Her eyes widened, but she opened the door to let the person in despite the fact Violet was invisible. A big box traveled behind her, yet Violet wasn't sure how. "Edna. What brings on this unexpected visit?"

"Wait? E's here?" Bob came hurtling down the stairs, tugging at his tie, a frown on his face.

"I received a message from a little birdie that your daughter might be in need of a little help in keeping her powers secret."

Somehow, Violet knew little birdie meant Robin – her stalker. She slid down in her chair, but tried making it so she looked invisible to the short woman who intruded upon their lives."

"We don't need charity E."

"This isn't charity, but us in the super community looking out for our own. Plus, it provided me a challenge."

"Yeah, but don't you think you're drawing attention with..." Bob pointed his finger at the box, which teetered slightly. "With that?"

Edna waved on hand in the air, brushing off Bob's comment with ease. "Relax. I made sure nobody was around to see me. Anyways..." She turned and looked right at Violet. "The first thing I want you to try on is your new school uniform."

The situation – it definitely wasn't something Violet expected, particularly the fact Edna already keyed in on her location. In the back of her mind, warning bells went off, such as how her mother invited the woman in with no hesitation, yet her father seemed a bit perturbed by the woman's presence. Seriously perturbed. Then there was a fact Robin was the one who clued this Edna person into the fact her powers were causing problems.

Bob glanced back and forth between the two adult women before swallowing, then said, "Well, I'm off to work," almost as if he knew he was beaten.

"Mind taking Dash with you to work."

"Wait..."

Dash hurtled out of the bathroom, bouncing up and down in excitement. "Please, please, please!"

"I'm not sure..."

"It would allow us to have some girl time but keep him out of my hair."

Bob let out a sigh. "Fine." He waved his hand in the air, indicating Dash should follow. "Come on buddy. Please behave."

"Yes!"

This left Violet watching Edna and her mother while Jack Jack continued to babble. The idea of having a uniform that was different than the others honestly didn't appeal, not to mention she didn't know how she'd get away with a "different" uniform, when Edna pulled out – well, a uniform which looked just like her regular uniform. Her mother looked at her. "Well?"

Violet wanted to hide. "By little birdie, you mean Robin, Batman's sidekick?"

"Partner."

She wasn't sure what the difference was, but her mother now looked her in the eye. "Wait. When did you meet Robin? Vi, what have you and your brother been up too?"

"Don't worry. We didn't manage to find any crime to take care of, but I thought the idea was stupid."

"Very. I'll be having a word with your brother when he gets home."

"Aren't you bothered with the fact he's pretty much stalking me, I mean, for him to know about my powers?"

"That..." Her mother looked over at Edna.

"He's the one who deleted the footage of your daughter the first day her powers activated at school but contacted me that day letting me know about the issue."

"Yeah. Doesn't sound like he was trying to stalk you, Vi."

"But, he prides himself in being some kind of detective."

"That..." Her mother sighed. "That's just how Batman is. It's a given among the superhero community that he is paranoid."

"And that's supposed to make me worry any less?"

"He's got a contingency plan for everything."

"Including me, apparently, no thanks to..."

"Robin didn't tell Batman. Mind you, that doesn't mean he doesn't know by now, but that's not how Robin is."

"Come on Vi. Try on the uniform. Edna's helped quite a few superheroes with their costumes, but outside of the community she's a major fashion designer."

"I used the video he sent me to get a gauge on your actual body shape, so you'll find everything I designed fits just right."

"Fine. I still find this entire thing creepy, but fine." Violet stood up, heading into the bathroom and changing into the school uniform, not thinking about it much – that was until the uniform disappeared with her. She stepped out of the room.

"Well. Now, don't you look adorable." Edna piped up.

"You can't see me."

"And that, my dear, is the whole point."

Violet glanced over at her mother, who also seemed quite pleased with the turn of events. Jack Jack, on the other hand, looked around for Violet's voice,wondering where his older sister got to.


	6. Life

Dick Grayson's life honestly sucked.

There were days like today where he woke up, his hand reaching out towards the ceiling, his fingers attempting to grasp the fingers of one of his family members before they crashed into the ground below. The dreams became less frequent as he grew older; this didn't change how these dreams left him feeling, not to mention what tended to trigger these dreams in the middle of the night.

A deep sigh escaped from his lungs, remembering how the Justice League decided they would disband the Teen Titans after the Trigon incident, effectively letting him know he'd not only failed as a leader – they didn't appreciate the fact he'd formed the team behind their backs. " _No, they didn't say it in so many words, but it was definitely implied._ " He certainly felt the disappointment of his mentor and legal guardian on his young shoulders.

Oh, and Starfire broke up with him after being taken in by Wonder Woman, one of those let's try something different for a bit kind of thing. He kept telling himself, in the back of his mind, that as a long-distance relationship it would struggle to last – he told himself, in the back of his mind, that he wanted to support her exploration of her sexuality – for that was the definite meaning behind seeing other people.

None of this changed the fact getting your heart broken majorly sucked, though Bruce wasn't very sympathetic, given the fact he'd been in multiple relationships.

Of course, _that_ summer started on a rather rocky start, what with him keeping the awakening of Violet Parr's abilities from Batman knowing full well his actions would result in Bruce grounding him from going out at night as Robin – after all, he'd skipped class so he might erase the footage, keeping her identity a secret, telling himself Batman insisted upon the importance of secret identities, not to mention the fact it was really a good idea if Batman figured it out on his own.

That summer also saw him grounded for investigating Cadmus with Aqualand and Kid Flash, resulting in the utter destruction of the Cadmus building, although they did manage in discovering Superboy, the clone of Superman. He remained unapologetic regarding the matter, pointing out _that_ was what they were trained to do. This didn't stop Batman from _grounding_ Robin's nighttime activities while he contemplated what they would do, thus forming the team.

Injuries also resulted in him getting grounded.

On top of an incident prior to Cadmus which made him out of commission, he found himself injured when the team attempted picking their new leader, no thanks to the Green Arrow's former protégée. A sprained wrist, concussion and hypothermia put him down for the count, placing him in bed for a few weeks, meaning he was nearly bouncing off the walls the night he ran into Violet Parr and her brother.

He remembered her words regarding the Teen Titans all too clearly. " _You wouldn't know what it's like being a freak! That's what they're known for, but that's where I would have fit in if the Justice League hadn't disbanded him._ "

Her words brought home a lot of baggage, such as him not feeling as he really belonged with either the team or the Teen Titans, being either too much of a freak or not freakish enough. He'd also not told his best friend – Kid Flash – that he once led Teen Titans, too afraid to find out how he'd react to such news. He feared him finding out, just as much as he feared any of the Titans finding out he was a part of a new team, not even the leader.

Worse – he'd seen the night of the mission which resulted in the injuries which laid him up for weeks something which definitely triggered the recent surgency of nightmares – a poster of the Flying Grayson family. He saw the picture in Zatanna, the mentor of Raven's new room. He didn't know _why_ the older girl was there.

" _You had a nightmare again. That nightmare?_ " Raven's voice echoed through his head, making Dick let out a sigh, one of his arms dropping to his sigh. " _You know we've got to get ready for school, right_?"

She'd come to live at the manor so she could attend Gotham Academy with him right after he heard the words coming out of Violet's mouth. " _I can't hide anything from you, can I?_ "

" _Yeah, so you'd better stop kicking yourself for abandoning us. Kick yourself instead for thinking you abandoned us when you didn't, but also for being so hard on yourself. Don't make me come in there._ "

" _Okay._ " Robin let out a sigh, the mental link cutting off. Taking a deep breath, he flipped up, moving quickly into the bathroom with agile strides, quickly changing into the uniform Alfred left pressed on the back of the bathroom door. He attempted smoothing back his hair and other grooming activities before heading downstairs, discovering Raven – or Rachel as she was going by in her civilian form – already eating with Bruce.

Bruce seemed in a good mood, so Dick started sitting down. Rachel didn't move from her seat but did lookup. "Wait." He felt a slight tug at his tie, feeling it straighten out, his robin blue eyes widening, having not realized his mistake. "There."

His foster father's head darted up, looking him in the face. "Are you feeling alright chum."

Because it was definitely concerning when Dick – well, wasn't meticulous regarding everything he did. It was certainly out of character. Dick's eyes drifted down towards the bowl of oatmeal and fresh peach slices Alfred prepared, his hand reaching for the spoon. "Fine. I just had – you know, didn't have the most whelming sleep last night."

"You know, if you need to, I am here to talk to, but you can also talk to Black Canary."

"I'm fine. Really. Just a little to turbed to notice I didn't have my tie on straight."

"He's fine. I should know." Rachel pushed her empty bowl away, looking up at Alfred. "Thank you for the food."

"You are most definitely welcome, Miss Rachel."

Soon, they were in the limo heading to school, meaning he'd get the chance to see _her_. Dick nervously tugged at the tie. One of Rachel's eyebrows shot up. "Hey. Don't make me straighten that out again."

"Sorry." Dick let out a deep breath, straightening his tie, looking at his feet. He heads straight for the courtyard when they arrived, his eyes looking around the courtyard for her, but he found himself heading behind one of the pillars so he might watch for her.

"Stop feeling so miserable for yourself already."

He turned, looking Rachel in the eye. She wore dark makeup, something which would definitely draw attention to herself at her new school, but so would her pale skin. Thankfully, she covered the jewel on her forehead up using a spell Zatanna supposedly taught her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She let out a sigh, shrugging her shoulders, holding her palms into the air. "I guess I don't have empathic abilities, so I can't tell that you're wondering if Batman is disappointed in you because you didn't become leader, yet on the other hand you don't want to become a leader, particularly with some of them thinking us – aka that stupid Ray, think that us Teen Titans were freaks."

Dick let out a groan, closing his eyes. "Rachel..."

"Oh, and I couldn't possibly know that you're worried about letting that new best friend of yours Wally know you were the former leader, given the bad reputation we Teen Titans have because of that Ray-Ray person."

"Ray-Ray?" Dick turned and looked at his friend in the eye, quickly noticing she wasn't smiling. Rachel – Raven – never smiled, always keeping her emotions in check.

She tilted her head to the side as if contemplating something before reaching out and pointing a fire at Dick's chest. "Nope. I don't think you've replaced me as a friend at all. You've simply gained a new friend, which is good for you because we are honestly a bunch of weirdos and you need some kind of normalcy in regard to your friendships, though to be honest, Kid Flash would have fit right in."

"Oh." Dick smiled before he turned his attention back to watching for Violet to appear.

"So... Starfire breaks up with you for some kind of self-discovery reason, and now you've fallen for another girl."

"That's not..."

"Relax. I'm teasing. I'm _sure_ the two of you will get back together. It's not as if you were polar opposites of each other in any shape or form." One of Dick's eyes twitched, his mouth twisting into a frown. He glanced over at Rachel, who suddenly grinned. "Relaxed. I'd have thought you of all people knew sarcasm." He turned away, looking for Violet again. He felt Raven's hand touch his shoulder and her lean in so she might see her as well when she approached. "So, what's so special about this girl."

"I told you." He turned his head ever so slightly and saw the grin on her face, meaning she did, in fact, remember him telling her about the girl at Gotham Academy – the forth wonder at the school as Rachel jokingly put it – due to her powers of becoming invisible and the fact there were already other hero types at the school: Robin, Batgirl and now Raven.

"I might have an easier time approaching her, you know."

"I still want to try and make friends with her."

"Yeah. You want to make friends with everybody." Rachel let out a sigh. "You've still not told me your bright idea."

"Babysitting."

"What?"

"Her mother's put out an advertisement for a babysitter for her younger siblings."

"Yeah. Sorry to break this to you. I know that you usually, almost always come up with good plans, but this one's a stinker."

He turned, giving her a rather large grin, but she was far from amused.

Instead, she said," Yeah. I think Kid Flash has been a _bad_ influence over you, and I thought Beast Boy and Cyborg were bad enough at doing that."

"I'll be okay."

"You usually are, then you're not." Rachel let out a sigh, her eyes rolling. He knew she was talking about how she knew he could take care of himself, yet had absolutely no control if a situation got out of hand.

His life definitely, currently sucked.


	7. Unexpected

Her hairbrush became stuck in her long black hair.

Violet grimaced into the window while she briefly turned invisible. A scream of frustration echoed through the Parr house while she stormed out and down the stairs. "Mom, help please!"

"First, calm down Vi." Her mother let out a sigh, her hands reaching out for the brush, the one thing remaining visible. "Take a deep breath." She complied, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. She wasn't sure whether the became visible or not, yet her mother started working with her hair. "There's no need to panic. I mean, it's not your first day at Gotham Academy."

"Yeah, but it will be my first day using the new uniform Aunt Edna made for me."

"Aunt Edna?" Bob let out a sigh from where he came down the stairs, attempting to straighten out his tie for work. "Seriously. She snuck in hero costumes for the kids. What was she thinking?"

"Um, let me think. Worst-case scenario kind of thing."

"Really! What's going to stop our kids from going out now and playing superhero? Huh?"

"Um, let me think. Aunt Edna emphasized this is Batman's territory and you don't go playing superhero in Batman's territory without his permission, but Batman is a very scary person. Very scary." Violet whispered the last part, wiggling her fingers. She took a deep breath, feeling there were far more important things to worry about than her and Dash sneaking out.

"I've already had a word with Dash." Her mother straightened out Violet's hair, letting it fall around her shoulders. She leaned forward, hugging her daughter.

"You look rather pretty, Vi."

"Dad. It's just a school uniform." Violet rolled her eyes, yet she couldn't help but smile at her father. She took a deep breath, diving into a bowl of cereal for breakfast, definitely feeling better regarding school, although she'd still not told her parents about the girls bullying her. She's done quite a bit to avoid those girls until the summer last year, fearing her powers might be found out, yet she also avoided her crush.

She arrived at school, taking a deep breath, a smile on her face. She pulled up her bag, hoping to bring up her grades from what they were the previous year.

That was until she saw Dick Grayson in the courtyard of the school and found herself ducking behind a pillar hoping she didn't just turn invisible on – well, everyone. Her eyes darted up towards the sky, taking in a deep breath while she held back the panic which welled in her chest. After a few minutes, she peeked out, finding he'd left, likely headed off towards class. Taking a deep breath, she started towards her first class on the list of classes the school sent all of the students who attended.

"Excuse me..." A voice came from nearby, making Violet freeze up. "Excuse me!"

She turned towards the girl, the corner of her mouth twisting up slightly. There was a girl there she'd never seen before, who wore a black hoody over her uniform, but also dark lipstick on her face. She wasn't sure why this particular girl approached her, which in turn made her swallow. The girl pointed at a piece of paper; her nails painted black. Violet's mouth opened and closed, unable to say anything.

"I'm new, so I'm a bit lost. I know they have someone give us a tour on the first day, but..."

Violet reached for the paper, swallowing in confusion. "Um..." Her eyes blinked. "Wait. You're in the same English class as me."

"Oh, cool."

Violet mentally froze, quite unsure of how she should react to the other girl's presence, but she finally stammered out, "Yeah", before walking down the hall. Her mouth closed, tightening, yet the other girl soon fell in step. Her eyes darted towards the ground, quite unsure of the other girl's presence even when they sat down at the desks in their homeroom. The girl purposefully decided to sit near her.

"So, my name is Rachel Roth. What's yours?"

"Um, Violet Parr."

"Cool. I actually like English. And no, my favorite genre isn't horror or Gothic Romance. I actually like more geeky stuff like fantasy and sci-fi."

"Oh." Violet pondered what her favorite book was, what she personally liked, yet she'd spend so much time trying to be invisible she never really thought about this. In fact, the last book she read was a book for a class assignment. Her eyes drifted towards her hands, her mind still pondering what the other girl said.

Thankfully, the bell rang, allowing for the class to start. For some reason, she found herself glad the new girl was sitting near her, as the other students' attention were on her, yet in the back of her head, she knew exactly what it was like to have the attention of the other students on her, particularly _that_ group of girls. In the same regard, she didn't wish for anyone else to go through what she did.

The teacher went over their assignments carefully, methodically. Everything indicated this year would be more difficult than last year, yet in the back of Violet's mind, she realized she'd honestly expected this given the fact she was attending Gotham Academy. In the back of her mind, she waited for something, anything to happen involving the girls who picked on her the previous year yet kept in mind what her mother said.

"Keep calm. If you feel as if you're not calm, take a deep breath." Her mother followed up by saying, "Keep in mind you've done quite well, not having your powers noticed."

She kept this in mind through all of her classes prior to lunch yet didn't think about the new girl despite the fact Rachel did make a comment about seeing her later. The school provided lunch for all students, regardless of the economic status, with everyone getting the same unless the student had some kind of health issue. Her eyes drifted around the cafeteria, her eyes catching sight of Dock Grayson as he sat down by himself.

"Hey. Want to sit with me."

Violet found herself drawn back to reality upon hearing Rachel's voice, but without hesitation joined the girl for their meal. Her eyes darted around, looking for the girls who happened to target her specifically, which allowed her to see the commissioner's daughter sit down with Dick Grayson.

"He's currently not dating anyone."

"What?" Violet startled, her eyes focusing on Rachel. "I... how would you know that."

Rachel shrugged. "It also won't be a rebound from his last relationship due to the fact they broke up nine months ago."

"How would you know that?"

"I have my way." Rachel looked down at her food. "Hey. You want to hang out this weekend?"

"Well..." Violet frowned, the fear of her powers being found out bothering her, yet she still wanted some kind of normality in her life. "Well, maybe."

"Do you have a phone so we can exchange phone numbers."

"Well, yeah." For some reason, making a new friend made Violet feel more relaxed.


	8. Hope for Normality

A sliding sound was heard as Violet pushed the clothes in her closet around, her mindset on picking out the perfect outfit. In some ways, she felt slightly embarrassed putting in as much fervor others expected for an actual date, yet she'd never found herself invited on an outing with a friend. The Parr family never stayed around long enough for her to really form any kind of relationships, yet now –

Now she'd lived somewhere long enough for someone else to be the new girl, but the new girl was approaching her in hopes of forming a friendship.

One of the things which stood out regarding Rachel was – despite her Goth appearance – she was actually quite nice. She didn't seem like the kind of girl who would make parents worry about getting their children into shady things. Violet held up one of the tops Edna designed for her, taking a deep breath. " _That's kind of nice, acting like Goth kids are troublemakers._ "

Yet, in the back of her mind, she did worry her parents, even Dash might judge Rachel by appearances rather than for who she was, so she kept the details minimal when she told her mother and father she would be hanging out with a friend at the mall after school on Friday, yet emphasized the fact she would meet her friend there. Both Bob and Helena were quite pleased with this change of pace for their daughter, while Dash didn't think much of it, focused instead on darting around with his powers.

Her hand stopped on the hero costume currently hanging in her closet, remembering how Edna mentioned the cloth Violet could, in fact, use to cover others if she ever found the need to make herself or others invisible. While her mother didn't approve of the hero costume, she didn't balk at the idea of the cloth should something happen where Violet might find the need to hide herself and her siblings.

A knock on her open-door made her look up, allowing her to see her mother standing in the doorway. "You're not wearing that out for your rendezvous with your new friend. Are you sure you don't want me to drop you off?"

"I, no. I think I'll be fine. I also have my phone in case of an emergency, but we don't have to worry about me being partially invisible any more thanks to Aunt Edna's clothing, right?"

Helena smiled, stepping forward to look at the clothing carefully. "While we can't go to the mall like a normal mother and daughter to shop for clothes, I can still help you pick out an outfit." Her mother shuffled around, pushing one piece of clothing around, pulling a couple of tops and bottoms to place on the bed. "I hope these choices don't seem uncool to you, though to be honest I think Edna's quite knowledgeable regarding what a young girl like you would like, let alone what is fashionably trending."

Violet reached for one of the outfits. "I like this one."

Her mother left, a smile on her face while Violet put on the outfit she preferred to think of as cute rather than cool, before heading down the stairs. Her father was sitting at the counter, drinking a cup of coffee.

"I'm heading out."

Dash hurried over. "How come Violet gets to go out with a friend to the mall."

Their mother's arm shot out, grabbing the top of Dash's head. "Because you've major impulse control when it comes to your powers. That's why."

The glare on his face was definitely priceless, yet she didn't stick around for the argument which consisted of Dash pleading for his mother to let him go as well, only for Helena to always win. Their mother, one might say, was definitely the one in charge of the household, making all of the decisions. The mall she was meeting Rachel at was around an hour away by bus, so Rachel was already waiting by the map near the entrance.

"Glad you could make it. What do you want to do first?"

Violet's eyes blinked. "I've never really done this before."

"Then let's head to the food court."

Rachel didn't ask her to go clothes shopping, something she was honestly dreading giving her issues with normal clothing. They headed towards the food court, while Violet let her eyes drift, her mind warry of running into one of the girls she knew from Gotham Academy. She still remembered the incident which triggered her powers even though they'd not managed to run into her since.

"Something the matter?"

"Not really."

"Alright. What do you want to eat?"

Violet worried her bottom lip. "Hold on. I'd better let my mom know I'm likely going to ruin my dinner."

"Ah. I'd not thought of that." Rachel sat down on one of the benches. "I can wait."

Violet pulled out her phone, dialing her mother's cell. The first words out of her mother's mouth were, " _Violet, please tell me nothing bad's happened._ "

"No. I was just wanting to know if it's okay if Rachel and I get something in the food court. I know how you are about us spoiling our dinner."

" _No. That's okay. Your father and I are actually going out for dinner._ "

"You mean Uncle Lucius or Aunt Honey are babysitting?"

" _Actually, I'm a little miffed at your father due to the fact he decided to get a babysitter so we could have an adult's night out together with Lucius and Honey, something we've not done in a while._ "

"Wait? _Who's_ babysitting then?"

" _Who? They actually attend Gotham Academy like you do. That's where your father put out the notice._ " What her mother said made her blood freeze, her throat tightening, her mind hoping it wasn't one of those girls, only for her mother to say something which made her blood chill even more. " _It's a rather nice young man named Richard Grayson, though he prefers being called Dick._ "

"What?" Violet's eyes widened. She glanced over at Rachel, her chest tightening slightly. "Hold on. Are you _sure_ that's a good idea?"

" _We warned Dash about running around the house._ "

"Yeah, but..."

" _Don't worry._ _Don't be out too late. We'll see you when we get home._ " Her mother hung up the phone, leaving Violet standing there. Eventually, she turned off her own phone, sticking it into her pocket.

"Something the matter?"

"Well, kind of." Violet glanced up at Rachel. "Apparently my parents are going out, but the people who normally babysit for us are going out with them."

"Oh? Doesn't that mean you're free to eat something."

"Yeah, well, the older of my two younger brothers is a pain in the neck, to be honest, but the person whose babysitting..." Violet glanced down at the ground. "It's Dick Grayson."

"Your crush?" Rachel glanced away, folding her arms across her chest. "Are you sure that you don't want to eat something? That you want to take a rain check?"

"I..." Violet swallowed. " _Actually, after you eat, do you mind coming back with me to make sure the place isn't a disaster?_ " She wanted to say those words yet found herself struggling to do so. "Sorry. There's no telling what kind of disaster will be waiting for me at home."

"At least let me buy you something that you can eat on your way home."


	9. Babysitting

"So..." Dick watched Bruce carefully, his spoon hovering over his breakfast, a smirk spreading across his face. "I have a babysitting job."

Much to his amusement, Bruce spluttered into his cup of coffee, his own eyes drifting up so he might look at his young ward, the edge of that morning's newspaper in his hand. He stared, contemplating what Dick just said. Eventually, he lowered his cup of coffee, setting it on the table. He cleared his throat. "What do you mean by that?"

Rachel muttered into her own food. "You're evil, you know."

"Seriously, it's not as if I'm joking." He shrugged his shoulders, still smiling as he did so, finding himself in a rather good mood, which felt nice not thinking of some of the negative thoughts which at times plagued his mind. "It means what it means."

"How? Why?"

" _Does he really want to know the answer to that issue, that you're interested in the girl?_ " Rachel communicated telepathically.

" _Shush._ " Robin continued smiling, hoping Bruce didn't catch onto the fact they were communicating telepathically behind his back, unsure of how he might react. He didn't expect anger, or anything similar, yet the reaction wouldn't be as if this were normal – it wasn't. "It was posted on the bulletin board at school. I wanted to try something different."

Bruce cleared his throat. "That is certainly different. However, as I recollect, you don't have any babysitting experience."

"The school has training for this, yet the teachers didn't have a problem with me exploring new things."

"Yeah, and he made me take the training as well."

"Did not."

Bruce let out a sigh, closing the newspaper in front of him. "This isn't exactly something a training course can prepare you for."

"I think being Robin's prepared me for this." His words make Rachel laugh, which she tried hiding behind her hand.

"That isn't even the same thing and you know it." Bruce sent a glare her way, which only made her try holding back the laughter even more.

"And you know what I meant. Being Robin's taught me to be prepared for the unexpected, right?" Dick continued eating his breakfast, thinking the conversation between him and Bruce was in fact over, yet after a few minutes, he heard Bruce speak up.

"There's something more to this."

Robin felt his blood freeze, his robin blue eyes looking him in the eye. Without batting an eye, he said, "What do you mean?"

"So, who are you babysitting for?"

"The Parr family. They have a preteen and an infant."

"Don't they also have a daughter around your age?"

Robin felt his mouth tighten. "Don't. Don't you dare..."

"He's right though."

"Thank you, Rachel," Bruce stated, going back to his newspaper. "If this gets you past that breakup of yours, then so be it. Just be careful of getting your heart broken again."

Robin let out a sigh. In a way, he found himself glad Rachel was, in fact, going out with Violet doing the friend thing, but apparently, her parents needed a night out. In the back of his mind, he felt two people with definite superpowers trusting a stranger was, in fact, a big deal, so he didn't plan on taking things lightly. Yet, in the back of his head, he wondered why Bruce didn't mention the fact the parents had powers.

"I guess he's wanting you to be a detective."

"And what about you?"

"I'm not Robin, the genius detective training under the world's greatest detective. Well, outside of Sherlock Holmes."

He bit his tongue slightly to hold back his laughter while they rode in the limo to school. Alfred looked up from the front seat, looking at his young charges. "Now, might I ask how you're getting to this babysitting job of yours?"

Robin's eyes blinked. "Um."

"I guess I can pick out one of the other cars, one which is less conspicuous. I'll then drop Rachel off with her meeting with her new friend at the mall so she'll be on time for her distraction."

"Can't get anything past you, can we Alfred."

"Not much Master Richard."

"I still think you should just approach her."

"And make her..." He paused; his robin blue eyes look up at Alfred. "Um..."

"I'm not going to ask, but if you want to keep the conversation between you and Miss Rachel secret, perhaps you should use her telepathy to your advantage."

"Yes, Alfred." Robin let out a sigh. He fidgeted with his phone, taking in the sight of Wally messaging him.

" _Wanna hang out? Haven't in a while since you started school, no longer 'cause it's been a few weeks._ " Robin sighed, noting it was a few weeks since Rachel moved in with them, yet she'd not been to Mount Justice yet. " _I'm bored._ "

" _I have a babysitting job tonight._ "

" _Say what? You pullin my leg?_ "

" _Nope._ "

He then heard Rachel's mind in his, so Alfred couldn't hear her. " _You know, you should just tell Wally about the Teen Titans. He seems like a nice guy._ "

" _You do realize we don't need to keep this conversation secret from Alfred._ "

"Oh, I think he'd agree with me. Right, Alfred."

"Yes, Miss Rachel." Alfred's mouth twisted slightly into a smirk.

Dick let out a sigh, shrinking down. He found himself glad the school day passed quickly, but Alfred dropped him off, leaving him hoping Violet already left. He took a deep sigh, knocking on the door. A woman with red hair opened the door, making Dick swallow, remembering his own mother's red hair. He brushed the thought aside, surprised when she said. "Um. Who are you?"

"Babysitter."

"Babysitter."

"This is the Parr residence, right?"

"Uh..."

"You are Mrs. Parr who put the..."

He watched her turn, yet her voice made him flinch as she yelled into the house. "Bob!"

"Yes?"

"Why are you putting your work shirt and work tie back on?"

Dick let out a deep breath, suddenly realizing Bob Parr _might_ have tried surprising his wife in a way he shouldn't. "Um, we're going out with Lucius and Honey tonight?"

"Why does that sound like you're suddenly unsure of that?"

"Um..."

Robin took a deep breath, slightly bummed out. "Look, I don't exactly have a ride home right now, so if you don't want a babysitter, maybe one of you could give me a lift?"

For some reason, this did the trick. Mrs. Parr turned, holding up her hands. "No, no. There are just a few things we need to do before we go, right? Go ahead and take off your shoes."

He stepped in, yet he didn't miss the glare she sent in the direction of Bob Parr. He stepped in, slipping off his shoes. He looked around, taking in how the house reminded him of Wally's place. He watched Mrs. Parr hurry over to the kitchen, grabbing a piece of paper scribbling down information, but she looked Bob in the eye. "Would you please go upstairs and ask Dash to come down here? Tell him the importance of not running in the house, but we have a guest in the house, so those rules apply."

"Um, yeah."

Letting out a deep breath, she slapped the paper down. "So, I didn't get the chance to vet you. What is your name?"

"Dick Grayson."

"Is that short for something?"

"Richard."

"So, your parents know you're here doing this? Would we be able to have their contact information?"

Dick opened his mouth. "Would it be wrong of me to guess he's not likely to have the information the school sent on him?"

"School?"

"Gotham Academy."

"The school Violet attends. Do you know our daughter?"

Dick rubbed the back of his neck. "Sort of. She kind of keeps to herself."

"Well, let's start off writing down the number of your parents."

Dick took the pad and wrote down the number and Alfred's full name. "Legal guardian. And actually, it's the person who's in charge of the household who you're likely to get ahold of."

"Your legal guardian's name as well please."

He let out a sigh, simply writing Bruce. She took one look, looking at him. "Wait. Are you Bruce Wayne's ward?"

"Could we not talk about that? I mean, he does know. It's just, I prefer people not to make a big deal of that and instead treat me like a normal kid."

She let out a deep breath. "Okay. Grade."

"Ninth."

"So that makes you fourteen, maybe fifteen."

"I'm actually thirteen. I won't be fourteen until December."

"Wait. You skipped a grade?"

Dick nodded his head, not wanting to admit he technically skipped a few grades, having found the need of catching up after having attended the school at the circus.

"Well, I guess you're responsible. Would it be alright if we call you Richard instead of Dick?"

"His name's Dick?"

Dick turned and looked at the blond-haired child at the bottom of the stairs he assumed was Dash. "If your intent was to prevent him from using that word, I don't think it's going to work."

A knock came at the door. He watched Bob hurry down. "Helen, you should get ready. I already picked out the dress Honey suggested."

"How long have you been planning this?"

Helen sighed, heading over to the youngest who was drooling. She gently handed him the infant. "This is Jack Jack."

"Hi JJ." Robin balanced the baby on his hip while watching Bob hurry over to the door. He opened it up and another couple stepped in. Lucius – who wasn't Lucius Fox – walked over, crossing his arms. "So. Have you been vetted yet by Mrs. Parr?"

"She approves."

"My turn." His wife rolled her eyes.

"Lucius."

"So, there isn't any intentions of yours regarding Violet Parr, because if this colored uncle is going to wipe the floor with your..."

"Okay. This is not vetting for a date. You are absolutely _not_ going to date, my daughter."

"Violet's going to kill you both."

"What?"

"I've read her journal. He's her crush, Dick Grayson." Dash stood on the stairs. "A geeky mathlete. Robin's so much cooler! Violet and..."

Bob thankfully covered his son's mouth. One of Lucius' eyebrows shot up. "A mathlete huh? Do you win?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then I don't see a problem."

"Hey! You're supposed to be supporting me, Lucius."

The baby in his arms started wiggling, reaching for a toy on the ground. Lucius let out a sigh. "I can get that."

... just as Dick's foot instinctively reached down, grabbing the toy with his foot and lifting it up so he might grab it with one of his hands without thinking about his movement, then moved it so Jack Jack could grab the toy, which he proceeded in dropping so he might watch Dick repeat the process again.

Dash's eyes widened. "Wow. Did you, like, grow up in a circus?"

"Um, yeah actually."

"The circus?" Bob's eyes widened. Helen let out a sigh, pushing her husband to the door.

"We're leaving. Leave the babysitter alone Bob. Be sure to follow the list."


	10. Unexpected Intrusions

Normally, a babysitter wouldn't think the parents telling their children running in the house was forbidden held some sort of secret implication they didn't want the babysitter knowing, yet he knew the words as the Parr family left with the family friends were their way of letting their son _not_ to use his powers in front of the babysitter. Dash seemed annoyed by this, which didn't surprise Dick given how hyper Wally was.

Dash's attention quickly turned to something else, but he bounced up and down on his tiptoes, placing him at risk of revealing his powers to the person babysitting him. "Did you _really_ grow up in the circus?"

"Yeah."

"How come you're not in the circus anymore?"

"Um – my parents are dead." He watched Dash's jaw drop, but the boy couldn't stop staring as he rescued Jack Jack's toy again. He decided sitting down might prove a better option, yet Jack Jack continued playing the game of making him reach for the toy. He watched Dash carefully. "That doesn't mean I don't want to talk about the circus. Just – not how they died."

"Um..." Dash looked away, then piped up. "How about just one question? Did you get to play with the elephants?"

"Oh yeah. The elephants and I were good friends. It was also one of my favorite hiding places." He almost let slip the fact he still had the elephant stuffed animal from his childhood yet felt better than telling the obviously precocious child in front of him such a thing. After all, he knew what he'd likely do, even if the aftereffects were unintentional on the part of his younger self.

"So, I'm hungry."

That honestly didn't surprise Dick, given how much Wally and his uncle ate in order to keep up with his speed powers. He stood up, catching the toy this time as Jack Jack tried dropping, starting a new game for the small infant. He headed over to the counter, looking over the instructions left. "So, your mom says you know where her she keeps money stashed for your Uncle Lucius to get you guys pizza?"

"Yes!" Dash literally dashed off, yet Dick completely ignored the fact he just saw him speed off, treating it as normal, bringing back the money, rattling off very fast the ingredients he wanted on the pizza, not realizing he spoke at speedster speed, a language Dick thankfully understood. He reached for the phone when a knock came at the door and Dash hurried off, pausing, glancing back while Dick pretended like he didn't notice anything, which in turn led to Dash walking slower.

"Wait! You shouldn't answer..." He heard the door open. "... the door..."

"Hi. Who are you?"

"Um. Is Dick Grayson here?"

Dick let out a sigh, recognizing Wally's voice. In the back of his mind, he cursed the fact he didn't factor in the impatience of speedsters into his calculations. After all, Wally did contact him about hanging out because a few things got in the way of the two hanging out – one of them being the fact he didn't _want_ Wally to know he was the former leader of the Teen Titans because he didn't know how his best friend would react.

He walked over to the door, glaring at Wally while holding onto Jack Jack. There was a backpack slung over Wally's shoulder. "You know, I don't need a babysitter myself."

Wally let out a sigh, giving him a look saying he honestly didn't believe him. "Seriously. What are you up too?"

"You know, I think it's actually against the rules of babysitting to invite someone over, right?" Dick narrowed his eyes, his mouth twisting into a frown. "I know what I'm doing."

From where he was, he watched Dash's mouth twist, his eyes narrow as the blonde-haired child gauged the situation. He then pointed his thumb at Dick. "Are you really friends with this guy? Because he's a mathlete? You actually seem cool." Dash paused. "Well, him being from the circus is cool."

Wally gave Dick the look which indicated, " _really_ " before looking down at Dash. "Oh, come on. There's a lot of cool things you can do with science, like making things explode."

"Not if it's your parents' garage."

"Hey! I did that on purpose!"

"Not really something you should admit in an impressionable kid." Dick glared at his best friend. Dash, of course, stood there with his mouth open wide, before bouncing up and down on his heels.

"Can he stay?"

"No. How'd you know where I am?"

"I asked Alfred."

"What do you have in the backpack?" Dash bounced up and down.

"Um, nothing that concerns you. Lots of nerdy school stuff for studying purposes, but I'm guessing you're too old for your babysitter to busy himself studying, right?"

"Duh! The babysitter's supposed to play. I don't get why Vi gets Lucius to help her with her homework like she does mom."

"Yeah, I don't think your sister..." Wally turned Dash around and started pushing the boy into the kitchen. "... would appreciate you blabbing such things in front of him."

"He's her crush, so duh. I could say what her favorite color is, her favorite show and she'd freak out."

Dick let out a sigh while Wally looked at him, one eyebrow raised up while mouthing, " _so that's what you're up to._ "

He gave Wally his best Batglare, before taking Jack Jack and shoving him into Wally's arms. "Here."

"What – why..." Wally spluttered at the sight of a baby in his arms, who now looked up at him with big eyes.

"If you're going to be here. You're going to help."

"Oh, and what are you going to do?" Wally's comment made Dash laugh.

"I'm going to order the pizza." Dick paused. "Plus make Jack Jack's dinner."

"He likes cookies."

Dick watched Jack Jack become excited, bouncing slightly in Wally's arms. However, he didn't think having two speedsters hyped up on sugar, so he said, "No."

What happened next was honestly not expected. Specifically, the baby's lip began to tremble and then he started screaming. As he screamed, he started morphing into a little monster, which made Wally hold him out, but he looked down at Dash who's mouth and eyes were wide, gaping at his younger brother. "Okay. So, since you weren't expecting _that_ , I'm guessing this is new." He looked up, watching Dick head over to where the cookies were. "Wait. Why aren't you surprised."

"Wait? Since Jack Jack has powers does this mean I can run around the room."

"No." Dick reached for the cookie jar, pulling it down from the top of the refrigerator. His hand hovered over the lid when Dash started running around. A frown appeared on his face. Wally dashed over, shoving monster Jack Jack into his arms.

"Here. I'll take care of this."

Only, Dash came to stop in front of Wally, not realizing Wally also used his speed ability. "So, like. I really, really, really want to be a superhero."

"Who's your favorite?"

"Robin!"

This, of course, made Wally's smile fade, glaring at Dick.

"I'm going to ask him when I meet him again if he can ask Flash if I can be his sidekick."

"Flash already has a sidekick."

"No, he doesn't."

"Yeah, he does. Kid Flash."

"Never heard of him. And that name isn't cool."

Dick held back his laughter, only for someone to intrude upon his mind.

" _I'm sorry, but Violet's on her way here._ "

A quick glance at the window showed Raven floating there in costume before disappearing so the others wouldn't see her. He gave Jack Jack a cookie, which made him turn back to normal. "Aster."


	11. Completely Visible

Somehow, she managed to take a few bites of the food Rachel bought her, yet Violet found herself unable to finish. Thoughts of her crush finding out her secret plagued her mind along with thoughts of her young brother – Dash – doing something majorly embarrassing which she'd never been able to live down. She also hoped the way she felt wouldn't make her turn invisible, taking deep breaths every so often, hoping nobody on the bus would pay her much mind.

When she arrived at her stop, the food went into the trashcan nearby, while she hurried back towards the house, her heart pounding in her chest, her mind contemplating so many different ways she might discover things to have already gone wrong. She stopped in front of the steps leading up to the door, taking a deep breath before hurrying up, opening the front door, her throat tightening as her panic grew.

The only sound she heard at first was the sound of the front door opening as she pushed what felt like a cumbersome object away from her. Stepping further into the house, she finally saw _them_ – her crush, her two brothers and – a complete stranger. Her throat tightened, her black hair covering one side of her face while she took in the boy with red hair holding onto Jack Jack, her mind wondering _who_ the young man was, yet why he was holding onto her brother instead of the person who was supposed to be babysitting.

She turned, still trying to control her panic to look at Dick Grayson. The look on his face seemed to indicate things weren't going the way he planned either, yet he didn't say anything. Instead, it was Dash who made the first move – literally dashing in front of her using his special speed. "You're home!"

"Dash!"

"Yes?"

"You're not supposed to..."

"It's okay! They saw Jack Jack's powers activate! He can turn into..."

She screamed. She screamed because her worst nightmare came true, but she found herself hurrying into the downstairs bathroom, her powers having activated when she screamed, her hands reaching up to lightly tug her hair in frustration. She purposefully locked the door, looking at herself in the mirror, completely invisible. " _This can't be happening! This can't be happening!_ "

"Did she just turn invisible?"

Violet slid down to the ground. Whoever the friend of Dick Grayson's was, he obviously saw her ability activate, but even if Dick Grayson _hadn't_ seen it, he most certainly knew about it. " _Mom and dad are going to kill me._ " Another thought crossed her mind. " _Wait. Dick Grayson is Bruce Wayne's ward. If Bruce Wayne finds out, he is going to lose his job!_ "

She let her head rest on her knees, completely unsure of what she should do in the given situation. Taking a deep breath, she contemplated how she might explain an entire person turning invisible. "Maybe say dad was working on something at work? No, cause that would definitely mean he would lose his job, sneaking tech out of Wayne tech! What am I going to do?"

"Hey. Vi?" She heard her brother from the other side of the door, swallowing as she did so.

"Your boyfriend doesn't seem to care that we have superpowers, nor does his friend."

Violet felt the heat rise to her cheeks. She stood up, her panic growing, her mind wanting to push the incident into the back of her head. In fact, she wanted to believe what happened didn't happen, yet her mind could in no way wish anything that happened away. She could, however, yell at him like siblings often did, which meant standing up and opening the door, which she first needed to unlock. Her mind briefly registered Grayson's friend saying she'd unlocked the door, but her mind was focused on Dash.

"You idiot! He's not my boyfriend, but the fact Jack Jack showed some kind of powers, which I think you just made up, doesn't mean you go around showing off your powers."

Dash lifted up a finger, his mouth opening to make an argument, only for his brain failing to do so. His eyes darted to the side, his mind still trying to make sense of what was happening, but then Wally piped up. "Well, he did do that. And he also floated in the air, because I kind of almost dropped him when he turned into the monster. Until he got a cookie thought."

"Why are you going along with him? There's no way someone has more than one power."

"Um, Superman does." Grayson piped up.

"He's an alien!" Violet looked at him, her cheeks suddenly heating up while she looked at him, yet she's not sure if he could see her.

"Yeah..." Grayson's friend piped up. "Doesn't everyone with multiple powers, like, happen to be an alien."

"There's the Amazon women."

"Well, there's that."

"And demons and half... demons." Grayson seemed distracted as if he had something else on his mind, yet Violet didn't know _what_ could have been distracting him from the fact not one, not two, but three siblings all had superpowers, almost as if for some reason this wasn't a big deal for him. Neither was it a big deal for his friend, which majorly bothered her.

"Demons and half-demons? Where did that come from?"

She watched Grayson's facial features twist suddenly, almost as if he didn't want to give his friend the answer to that. Of course, the fact Jack Jack _had_ powers was just as unbelievable as two other teenagers acting like superpowers were a normal part of life. However, she did see a figure float down outside of the glass window which led into the small backyard, which made her throat tighten, her mind trying to place why it seemed familiar.

Grayson's friend let out a yelp, saying the word ghost, making Grayson turn his head while reaching for Jack Jack who was now floating through the air, letting out a hiccup before sending out electric sparks. "I don't see anything."

Violet choked as the apparition disappeared. "How can you not see anything?"


	12. Double Aster

In truth, he was in all possibility more mortified than Violet Parr at that very moment, what with his best friend who shouldn't even be there elbowing him in the ribs, grinning from ear to ear as to say, " _you dog_ " without actually saying those words. In fact, Dick Grayson found himself glad the look and action went over the head of the oldest Parr boy, that, or he didn't notice the movement, given the fact he was busy attempting to get his sister out of the bathroom.

Now he had two best friends absolutely convinced he indeed had a thing for the girl, yet one of them was yammering in his head upon him mentioning demons and half-demons in response to Wally's comment regarding thinking of what would preclude multiple powers in a person. Of course, the manner in which Dash _got_ his sister out was far from ideal, what with him outright stating that Dick was her boyfriend. He winced, not at the comment, but the way she reacted, his mind almost wondering if – yes – he did have a thing for her.

" _Does it count as a rebound?_ "

" _Do you still have feelings for Starfire?_ "

" _I care about her if that's what you mean._ "

" _You of all people should know that's not what I mean._ "

In truth, he'd not thought about he felt regarding Starfire in a few months, but the crushing feeling – he'd not felt that in a long time. That didn't change the fact, " _it still bothers me._ "

" _Is it because you still have feelings for her, or because of how you broke up, not to mention your mind is wondering if things would have happened differently had the relationship not gone long distant?_ "

" _That._ "

Of course, he also for some reason thought it a good idea to say he didn't see anything when Raven decided to show up pretending to be a ghost, something in Robin's mind would occur with the Teen Titans and not the new team. From the looks on both Wally and Violet's faces, they obviously didn't believe him, but violet's finger still pointed towards the window while she hid behind Wally. He attempted to give one of his grins trying to convince everyone nothing was going wrong when Dash hurried up.

"Where? What? See what?"

"Um... a ghost?" Wally continued looking at the spot where Raven was for a brief moment, making Robin mentally curse her.

" _So? Ghost stories are fun._ "

" _Not when the apparitions are real and the game plan is to add said apparition to the team. No, seriously..._ " He continued looking at the two. "Well, this is certainly asterous, isn't it?"

"Your boyfriend has funny words, Violet. Robin is so much cooler though."

Her eyes blinked, her head shaking. Wally's facial features twisted, almost as if saying Dick should stop with the unwords, lest they get him in trouble, yet – Wally didn't know he'd encountered both of them right before Raven moved in at the manor. Her voice chimed in. " _That's kind of a given conclusion to anybody who actually knows you though. You have a way of seeking out trouble, you know, but also a way of – well, stepping in things._ "

" _I do not!_ "

Raven's laughter echoed through his head, his eyelids narrowing in frustration. He let out a sigh when he saw the red dot moving around the room. Instinctively, he shoved Jack Jack into the arms of his older brother, diving at his best friend and Violet so he might tackle them around the waist as the red dot was focusing in on them. "Duck!"

The sound of a shot shattering the window and hitting the wall was definitely not a good sign, but his head tilted up, completely prepared to go into Robin mode despite not actually being in his outfit, let alone wearing the glasses which hid his trademark robin blue eyes. What he saw, made him freeze. Wally groaned, then paused. "Um – are you going to say you don't see that?"

" _Raven! It's Cyborg! Cyborg is attacking us. I don't understand why!_ "

" _That doesn't make sense. Isn't he supposed to be in a coma since the incident with my father._ "

" _Yeah, but I've not visited recently. His father..._ " He swallowed, knowing something was wrong, watching Cyborg step into the room, his heavy footsteps further crunching the glass while the cyborg's eyes focused in on him – Dick. Dick sucked in a deep breath, wondering who would know he was Robin and thus use Cyborg against him, because there was no way cyborg's father would allow this, yet there was no news of cyborg going missing recently.

What happened next as he stood there was unexpected. Jack Jack started wiggling in Dash's arms to get out, then transformed into his monster form and attacked Cyborg. Robin's breath caught in his lungs, worried about what might happen to the child. Cyborg, of course, went on the offensive, which resulted in Jack Jack turning into smoke, before catching on fire and laser eyes going off.

Wally's voice came from nearby. "Okay. That's not normal."

The fact he'd not heard Violet's voice registered in his mind, making Dick turn his head, looking at the girl. Thankfully, she wasn't out – simply shocked regarding what was going on. Cyborg paused, lifting a finger up to his ear, obviously communicating with someone. "Alright. Change in plan."

Dick watched as Cyborg turned and left, taking Jack Jack with him, as the infant continued attempting to attack Cyborg, yet Dick found himself wondering if his friend was taking damage, but he soon disappeared from sight. Dash quickly dashed off, while Violet dashed upstairs. Wally swallowed. "Okay. That was totally not expected. Should we call Batman."

"Batman doesn't know their kids have powers."

"Which means he likely knows their parents have powers?"

"I think he made sure their father could keep a job." Dick stood up, brushing his clothes off while he continued looking at the mess. "Looks like my first time ever babysitting was a failure." He glanced up the stairs, moving to head up when Wally grabbed his shoulder. "Where are you going?"

"To check on her."

"Dude, her brother is..."

"I'm going after my brother, but I don't need some knight in shining armor."

Dick turned and looked at Violet, seeing her standing there in the costume Edna created specifically for this purpose. She walked down the stairs the rest of the way, another costume draped over her arm, but her finger poked Dick in the chest. "Let us superheroes handle this, but don't you dare tell anybody about my powers."

"Yeah, but..."

"And definitely don't tell my parents. They'll absolutely freak." She took off, headed through the broken door, taking off after her brother and Cyborg.

"Dude. That was cold. We can certainly help, though you did seem more interested in playing the knight in shining armor, weren't you? Nice way to win the girl's heart."

"I don't have my Robin costume." Dick glanced away. "It made sense to talk to her about what to do in the given situation, yet now that I think of it, her actions make a lot of sense."

"Actually, you do. I brought it. Alfred let me. That's what's in my backpack, but I'll get into mine and catch up to them so we can rendezvous."

"Aster..." Dick shook his head, looking at the Robin uniform which was now in his arms, meaning he could use the utility belt he always kept hidden on him but quickly ducked into the bathroom. " _Can you take my regular clothes, Raven?_ "

" _Ah, but I want to join in._ "

" _It was Cyborg._ "

" _All the more reason..._ "

" _If we can't handle it, then yeah, but we might need the adults._ "

" _Be careful._ "


	13. Real Nightmare

Perhaps her worst nightmare _wasn't_ her crush finding out about her abilities, though that honestly placed a close second to the nightmare which now unfolded in front of her eyes.

She didn't know _why_ the African American cyborg attacked their home, but she did find him a frightening sight once she found herself looking at the looming figure she guessed in the back of her head was an adult – though she could possibly be wrong. One of his eyes was replaced with some kind of eye, yet quite a few of his muscles were balanced out with tech that looked rather on the high end.

In the back of her mind, she at first didn't register _what_ was going on, given the fact Dick Grayson suddenly pushed her and that friend who most certainly _shouldn't_ be there onto the ground, making her wonder if crushing on Dick Grayson was an okay thing to do, given the fact – despite the fact he was a nerd, he was rumored to be just like the man who was his legal guardian.

Of course, in the back of her mind was the fact – yes, Jack Jack did indeed have powers of some kind, given the fact he basically went off, turning into that monster that Dash mentioned, burst into flame and even turned into smoke when he started attacking the cyborg who was attacking his family. Which – would have been deemed adorable if it weren't for the life and death situation.

Then there was how Jack Jack floated right after the guy who shouldn't be there nearly dropped him upon seeing the ghost she was quite sure looked just like her new friend Rachel. It bothered her, how Dick Grayson reached out for Jack Jack as if nothing strange were going on, yet acted like the most strange thing – the ghost – wasn't even there. From the look which appeared on the guy who shouldn't be there's face, she definitely saw what she saw.

... and Dick said, "Well, this is certainly asterous, isn't it?"

"Your boyfriend has funny words, Violet. Robin is so much cooler though."

Which in turn connected her to the fact Robin also used funny words, though her mind quickly pushed away the inkling, instead of hurrying up the stairs to change into her costume that Edna provided her while grabbing Dash's, knowing full well her brother would be attempting to help out with the situation even though he was much younger and tended to be so rash. She found herself telling Dick Grayson and his friend who shouldn't be there she didn't need a knight in shining armor, nor to tell her parents.

Although, in the back of her mind she didn't know how she would explain the damage to the main living area of the home, along with the broken glass strewn across the floor. She simply didn't want Dick Grayson breathing a word to her parents lest they completely freak out regarding the situation that – as Violet hurried off in the direction Dash headed, or so she hoped – she found herself admitting she might be in over her head.

"Hey!"

She startled, jumping at the sound of a voice which sounded familiar, yet didn't. Turning, she found herself looking at a kid dressed in yellow – a bright yellow which stood out in Gotham like a sore thumb. His red hair and blue eyes also stood out like a sore thumb, but he held her brother up by the back of his clothing. Her mouth dropped. "Wh... Dash!"

"I honestly don't know how this loony caught me!"

"Hey! I'm not a loony. And for your information, I'm Kid Flash, the partner of Flash."

"Flash does not have a partner."

"Man, kid – you really need to keep up with the superhero news, you know."

Violet folded her arms across her chest. "Look. We've been told by a certain someone that this is Batman's city. He doesn't like anybody in his territory, right? But we're trying to rescue our brother, which explains why we're here? But what is the sidekick of Flash doing here in Batman's city."

"Uh, well..." Kid Flash's mouth twisted slightly. "So, let's start off with the fact Robin insists on the word partner being used, not the word sidekick."

"You can tell that jerk he can very well leave us alone."

"Come on Vi! He's cool!"

"Yeah. So, is your code name Shrinking Violin or something?"

"No. It's her..."

"If you're going to say her name, stop. Learn to shut your mouth regarding the secret identities of other's kids, particularly when you're attempting to operate in the town of the guy most paranoid about such things."

"Come on KF. We really need to help them find their younger brother before Batman gets involved, else all of us are going to feel the aster."

Violet's eyes blinked, her head shaking while the boy in front of her facepalmed. In the back of her mind, she knew the strange boy who shouldn't be there, in fact also had red hair. "Wait a second. What happened to Dick Grayson?"

"Um, he called for help."

"That idiot." Violet swallowed. "Now my parents are going to find out." She realized she couldn't see Robin, so she turned.

Kid Flash let out a sigh. "Look. When he decides to go into stealth mode, you can't find him. We should, as he said, focus on getting your baby brother back."

"Well, you kind of messed that up, because I just so happen to have been so close to capturing that cyborg thing."

"His name is Cyborg."

"Dude, Rob, you can't just go naming things like that. I'm sure the guy would like a much better codename if he were to have one and was – you know, a good guy."

"He _is_ a good guy. Somebody is controlling it." Robin finally appeared, moving quite smoothly.

"How is it you always know these things?"

"I'm a detective, remember KF?"

Violet looked away. "Your costume."

"Oh, yeah. I need that." Dash grabbed the costume, hurried off, and then came back, a huge grin on his face. "So, are we going to do this superhero thing and find out brother?" He pointed a thumb at Kid Flash. "Of course, this idiot made it so I couldn't beat that guy to a pulp."

"Yeah, well..."

"Tracker?" Robin grinned big.

"Well, yeah, I did put that tracker you wanted me to on. I mean, it doesn't make sense to fight him where civilians might get hurt."

She wanted to tell Dash, " _Hey, listen to these two. They actually know what they're talking about, yet..._ "

In her mind Robin was a jerk, he was somehow familiar – though that might just be their one visit and the fact she found his attitude – he seemed so full of himself, so sure of himself despite the fact he didn't seem much older than her. She glanced around, wondering if Batgirl would be coming along, yet how it made more sense for her to show up if Robin were to pick someone to help.

Yet, they did need the help of Kid Flash and Robin.


	14. Face to Face

They arrived at one of Gotham's abandoned buildings soon after Violet and her brother agreed to help, but not before Kid Flash whispered into Robin's ear. "You really need to be more careful using the unwords around her. While it is true that Batman doesn't mind someone in the league finding out because they played detective, he's not fond of you dropping clues either."

"That..." Robin glared at his best friend – or one of his best friends, Raven being the other. "He doesn't like people finding out period unless he sanctions it."

"Then be more careful."

" _Asterous. This is really asterous. I mean, the chances of her finding out are..._ " Robin let out a deep breath. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Kid Flash babysit Dash, making sure he didn't go rushing into the abandoned building. Robin found himself close to Violet – closer than he would have liked.

"So, first things first, I think you're a jerk."

"Okay."

"And you arranging for Edna to help me out – creepy."

"Look..."

"But, I do need to say thank you. Just, stop being so creepy. I've a definite crush on someone else."

" _Well, that's awkward, considering the fact that person is apparently me._ " Taking a deep breath, he lowered himself to the ground, motioning for the others to follow after him. He shook his head, watching Kid Flash continue keeping Dash from darting off. He made a circling motion, indicating Dash should go around to the other side to enter while he and Violet took the window above. Kid Flash nodded his head, yet it felt good that his friend actually understood the cues, something which wouldn't have happened a month or so ago.

" _I'm watching, and if anything goes wrong..._ "

" _Yeah, yeah, you're getting Batman._ " Robin took a deep breath before slipping in through the window. He remained quiet, and they moved forward, hearing the sound of a child as they moved forward. In the atrium of the abandoned building was Cyborg, holding onto Jack Jack who was of course furious.

He'd not expected Violet to move, yet in truth shouldn't be surprised, given the fact he'd have done the same if it were his younger sibling. She stepped forth, attempting to reason with him, Cyborg. Robin took a deep breath, wishing he had the time to warn her that Cyborg wasn't the only one in the room – that her plan wouldn't work, because this kind of people really didn't care. "Hey. Can I have my baby brother back please?"

Cyborg turned, yet Robin knew he would need to hack into his friend – something which sickened him – to return him to normal. Of course, Raven piped up in the back of his head. " _How do you think I feel when I have to hack your brain in a similar situation?_ "

"Fair enough." He said the words out loud when he shouldn't have.

"What?" Violet turned her head, while he clapped a hand over his mouth, muttering sorry just as Cyborg started to move. He dove forward, knocking Violet to the ground so that Cyborg didn't hit her, knowing full well already how it felt getting hit by one of Cyborg's punches, or other physical moves. He started standing up, regretting his own stupidity when he found himself hit by one of those physical moves, sending him flying.

He pushed himself up off the ground, glaring at Cyborg. "Okay! That wasn't very nice." He found himself moving quickly, dodging under another punch while Cyborg held onto a raving mad baby who could turn into a whole lot of things. He used this to his advantage and used the boxes nearby to run up, so he gained height so he might land on Cyborg's back, his hand reaching out so he might jack into Cyborg's head.

The next thing he saw was stars, one of Cyborg's punches hitting him square in the eye, which in turn loosened his grip. He felt Cyborg reach up to grab him, to throw him, but instead felt Cyborg's fingers grasp onto his mask. Robin let out a gasp as the mask came off, his body tumbling to the ground, his head spinning as Jack Jack screamed. He opened his eyes, seeing Cyborg begin to focus on Jack Jack again, yet he couldn't make out what was going on.

He started up, staggering slightly, when someone grabbed onto his arm, pulling him away from the atrium. His mind spun as they dodged into one of the hallways of the atrium, the distraction allowing them to head into one of the rooms. He felt himself shoved into the wall in a rough manner, his breath escaping his lungs. His eyes opened, attempting to regain focus on his surroundings. He made out a bunch of boxes and a figure hovering over him.

He tried waving them off. "I'm okay KF. Really. I mean..."

His vision came into focus, even more, allowing him to see the height was wrong. In fact, the person in front of him was female, not male. He swallowed, finding himself looking eye to eye with Violet Parr. "Are you okay?"

He swallowed, knowing his eye that Cyborg hit would be a beautiful shiner in the morning, though thankfully there was no school until Monday. "Your brother..."

"Are you an idiot? You're hurt. You're..."

"I've had worse." Robin let out a deep breath. " _Please. Please don't let her recognize me. Please don't let her realize who I am. Bruce is going to kill me. Batman is going to kill me. Everyone who knows my identity in the league is going to kill me. Wally is going to kill me._ "

She didn't say anything. Instead, they heard voices. "They might be in here, but Robin doesn't have his mask. Do you know how much money the likes of Penguin or the Joker would pay to know the identity of Batman's partner?"

Robin took a deep breath, his eyes widening, his mind still hoping she didn't recognize him. She pulled him towards the ground, his mouth opening to protest.


	15. In Plain Sight

In the back of her Violet's mind, she knew Robin's intentions were well-intended. He was still a stranger, someone who she didn't know the identity of. There was an inkling in the back of her mind she didn't have time to ponder, as rescuing Jack Jack took precedence over anything else, although stepping forward asking the enemy for her baby brother back was probably not a good idea. She still asked, feeling nervous and unsure of what she should do. It felt strange that she would be worried about Jack Jack, given the fact even now his powers were going off.

She definitely fell like a fool for stepping forward and asking for the brother, yet even stranger when she heard Robin say, "Fair enough."

While this seemed like a logical response to what she said, given the fact it was _fair_ of the cyborg in front of her to give back her younger brother, she didn't feel his response actually made sense. The tone of voice Robin used made it sound as if something were distracting him, yet she didn't think there was anything more important than what was happening right in front of them. She also felt he wasn't at that moment talking to her, as if there was a voice in his head.

Of course, he might be communicating with someone over some kind of radio.

Whatever the reason, she turned so she might look him in the eye, preparing to ask what he was trying to say when he knocked her to the ground. More specifically. She realized just then the cyborg swung at her and Robin knocked her out of the way, making her feel even more like a fool when he did so. She turned, knowing full well telling him she didn't need a knight in shining armor wouldn't work this time, when the cyborg swung again just as Robin got up, sending him flying.

She looked over, worried Robin might be seriously hurt while Jack Jack continued to scream at the Cyborg who would let the baby go. The look on his face – Violet didn't know how, but she knew he would be trying to do something stupid. She watched him run up some nearby boxes – they were huge, so he might land on the cyborg's back. She saw him pull out a computer and something which looked like a jack, which made her think he was going to try and hack the cyborg.

Which, honestly seemed stupid as right now the cyborg's focus was on Robin more than Jack Hack who apparently seemed like a fly to the rather large cyborg. Violet swallowed, realizing the cyborg was likely twice her size.

Violet's suspicions _that –_ what Robin was doing – wasn't a good idea proved correct when she watched the cyborg reach back with his one free hand and bunch robin in the face before reaching back again so he might grab Robin from his back. The cyborg missed, almost grazing Robin's face instead. Jack Jack screamed louder, becoming angry at seeing Robin get hurt which in turn made him even more volatile. Violet used this distraction to her advantage, grabbing onto Robin's arm and pulling him away, down one of the halls off the side of the atrium.

Somehow, she found a room that was abandoned and pulled Robin into the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw he wasn't quite steady on his feet, likely due to the punch he'd received to the face, yet she could easily see his eye starting to bruise. Violet pushed him up against the wall, a familiar pair of robin blue eyes looking back at her, yet he seemed unaware of the fact she was the one to pull him into the room. "I'm okay KF. Really. I mean..."

Her mind definitely registered the fact Robin was actually Dick Grayson, which...

Violet took a deep breath, focusing instead on making sure the young vigilante in front of her was alright. "Are you okay?"

His eyes blinked, his mind slowly registering what was going on. Instead, he said something she'd not expected. "Your brother..."

" _Okay. He's far more worried about my younger brother than he is himself._ " She glared at him, knowing he wasn't okay meaning she needed to do something regarding the situation; after all, she was the only one there. His friend – Kid Flash and likely the red-haired boy who randomly showed up for some unknown reason – she hoped not to gawk at her and her family, "Are you an idiot? You're hurt. You're..."

"I've had worse." He let out a deep breath, looking her right in the eye.

" _Is he aware of the fact his mask is missing. Is he aware of the fact I know now who he is? I remember..._ " She definitely remembered him bringing up the importance of secret identities, yet in the back of her mind, she also didn't think she wanted to know what he meant by worse injuries than the blow to the head. Her lips pushed together, wondering what she should say, when...

She heard voices from outside of the room. "They might be in here, but Robin doesn't have his mask. Do you know how much money the likes of Penguin or the Joker would pay to know the identity of Batman's partner?"

" _Or how much Bruce Wayne might pay for his ward._ " She pulled him to the ground, so they were both in kneeling positions very close to each other; she could feel his warm breath, but thought her breath was ragged. She watched Robin open his mouth in protest. Violet quickly clamped a hand over her mouth and lifted a finger to her mouth, indicating he should remain silent before pulling out the cloth Edna arranged for the small compartment to hold a cloth which could cover herself and someone else if the need arose.

She quickly whipped the cloth out, the soft cloth draping over them, but she watched him look on in horror as she utilized her powers. In the back of her mind, she hoped her powers would, in fact, work at that very moment, otherwise, they were both majorly screwed. Her eyes closed, feeling a slight welling of panic, her mind wondering exactly how her powers activated, given the fact she didn't recollect a time when her powers did activate for her on purpose.

" _I need to be invisible to protect us both._ " Her eyes remained closed while her ears picked up on the sound of whoever followed them getting closer. In the back of her mind, she wondered if anyone else noticed Robin's distinctive eyes which would clue them into who he was. She swallowed, putting two and two together from thinking of those two worries. " _The reason Robin took an interest was because your powers activated in front of him. Dick Grayson saw your powers activate at school. Well, that certainly explains why he knew to erase the footage at school_ "

"Did you get a good look at the kid's face?"

"Nah. I just saw the mask, like you. Nobody's seen his face, but he's definitely lucky only the cyborg knows his face."

"Why not get the cyborg to let the boss know?"

"The boss says he says he can't download the cyborg's memories. He simply put some kind of program in to control him."

" _What's that supposed to mean? Don't see us. Don't see us._ "

"Well, I don't see anything. Let's move onto the next room."

Violet almost felt relief from hearing that, but then realized she couldn't really feel relief until they were gone. She also realized they were very close – close enough to hear his breath along with feeling it. After a few minutes of silence, she peeked out, mentally noting the coast seemed clear. The sound of wind entering the room made her suddenly think otherwise, only to realize it was Kid Flash, looking around frantically. "Rob. Rob, where are you? Seriously..."

She felt Robin stiffen slightly next to her, but she peeked out from under the cloth ever so slightly. She saw Kid Flash looking around frantically while Dash stood there, glaring at – well, something that was invisible. He then said. "They're not here. Let's go to the next room."

"Hold..." Dash hurried off, leaving Kid Flash to look after the boy. "Seriously. I kind of get..."

"We're here."

Kid Flash blinked, his head-turning. "Wait. You turned both of you invisible?"

"Sort of. Kind of."

"Look, is Rob there or..."

Violet spoke rather quickly, wishing Kid Flash would simply shut up. "He lost his mask and we need you to get it back using your super speed." She then spoke in a much slower manner. "Please."

"Wait. Did you see Rob's face?"

"Please. They're looking for him because he doesn't have his mask on."

"Did anybody see his face?" Kid Flash let out a sigh. "And is he really..."

"Look. If I've seen his face I've seen his face. I'm most certainly not going to let you see his face, because that would be, you know – stupid. Right?"

"Rob, just..." Kid Flash let out a deep breath. "Fine. I'll go and get your mask. Where is it?"

"I think that cyborg has it."

"Great. Be back in a flash."

Violet didn't find that statement amusing.


	16. Rethink

" _Yeah, KF is never going to let me live it down – the fact I managed to reveal my secret identity like this._ "

He found their closeness uncomfortable yet expect _that­_ would be another thing Kid Flash would never let him live down; even more importantly, Batman wouldn't take kindly to someone finding out his secret identity. The worst-case scenario – outside of getting kidnapped of course because that wasn't the Parr family – was Martian Manhunter erasing certain memories from their brains.

" _Maybe I don't have to tell him?_ " In the back of his mind, he knew this wasn't an option. In fact, he suspected Batman would find out about their current situation if he wasn't already on his way – given the fact the Parr family possibly already discovered the disaster in the main living area of their home along with their missing children. A mental image of Cyborg duking it out with Mr. Incredible popped into his head, making a shudder run down his surprise. " _Total aster._ "

A total aster was the fact he found his mouth glued shut – metaphorically – once he realized his mask was missing, not to mention the fact – yes, Violet Parr very likely knew who he was. He was completely feeling the aster mentally, meaning his mind wasn't contemplating an actual plan. The fact his mask – the mask he put on to hide everything he wanted to hide from the world – it wasn't there, on his face, putting a major feeling of unease into his psyche.

Of course, the fact he wasn't saying anything when Kid Flash attempted eliciting some kind of response from him – he knew he wouldn't be allowed to live that one down either. Except, his best friend wouldn't tease him about this particular part; no, his best friend would worry about whether he was going into a dark mood because of tonight's events. Then again – now wasn't the time to be lost in thought, given their current predicament.

Thankfully, Kid Flash took off, saying he'd be back in a flash with Robin's mask. Robin heard Violet let out a groan, indicating she didn't appreciate the way the speedster said he'd be right back. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but feel tense, wondering if Kid Flash would succeed in getting the mask back from Cyborg, given the fact he knew for a fact Cyborg was a rather tough opponent, having sparred with the cyborg teen quite a few times in the past.

"Got it."

Hearing Kid Flash's voice made Robin relax slightly. He felt – as it was dark under the fabric Violet channeled her powers – the fabric move so Violet could grab his mask, then saw a slight light coming from the dimly lit room. "Thanks. Here."

She handed him his mask. His hand reached for his belt, his throat tightening. He removed the tube of affixative which would allow him to put the mask back on but ran a gloved finger across the edges of the mask so that he might place his mask back on his face. Upon placing the mask, he felt his normal confidence come surging back, his mind focusing on a plan. He also felt the cloth move back, allowing him to see Kid Flash.

"So, how did you get it back."

"Well, it was no easy task. By the way – I think Dash gave up looking for you guys and is trying to take on that cyborg dude."

"His name is Cyborg."

"Uh..." Kid Flash looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.

In all honesty, given the fact he'd taken a punch to the face, he couldn't blame Kid Flash for thinking that. "Never mind." Robin's mind carefully formulated a plan, knowing full well he still needed to try and remove the programming which controlled Cyborg, yet in the back of his mind, he wondered _how_ he never heard anything regarding the fact Cyborg was kidnapped from his father's lab. The lack of news majorly bothered him, yet he might not find out the reasons any time soon. "So..."

"We need to come up with a plan."

"I was just going to say I have a plan."

One of Kid Flash's eyebrows darted up, his arms folding across his chest. "Really?"

"Well..."

"You honestly want me to think you have a good plan when..."

"I ended up royally messing up?" Robin's mouth twisted into a deep frown. "Look, we don't have much time as now both of your brothers are involved with Cyborg."

"The cyborg."

"Um, yeah." Robin's eyes narrowed. There wasn't any time to argue regarding the semantics with Violet; he wished she had an alias for herself so he might call her by name. More importantly, he wasn't sure how he'd get the other two to listen. "Well, if I can remove whatever programming was added to control him..."

"Yeah. The bad guys who were looking for you mentioned that, so you were paying attention despite not saying anything."

"You're not going to let me live down what happened either, are you?" Robin let out a sigh. Kid Flash grinned in amusement regarding the fact Violet wouldn't let him live it down either.

" _Well, there's at least a third – me – who's not going to let you live it down either._ "

"Be glad I'm not going to tell my brother."

"Chances are he'll do something embarrassing in front of your brother eventually."

"Hey!" Robin glared at Kid Flash. "Anyways, if I can stay on Cyborg's back, I can actually – possibly, remove that program."

"How is that different from before?"

"I won't be working alone." Which was, in fact, true, making him feel even more like an idiot, yet he brushed it aside. "More importantly, we need to get to wherever..." The wall suddenly exploded as Cyborg came hurtling through the wall, hitting the other wall while Dash hurried through right before Jack Jack started stomping after Cyborg. He took a deep breath. "Okay. Change that. Let's get this taken care of before those three knock down the building and get us all into trouble with Batman of all people."


	17. End Game

"Let's get this taken care of before those three knock down the building and get us into trouble with Batman of all people."

In reality, Violet was far more terrified of getting in trouble with her mother for letting some cyborg invade their home, let alone kidnap her youngest brother but also how she did nothing to stop the older of her two younger brothers from – well, being Dash. She wasn't sure how anyone could stop Dash from being Dash, yet in the back of her mind, she felt as if she were going to be in trouble for that of all things. Not to mention, her two younger brothers were definitely – as Robin said, - likely going to tear the building down with the help of that Cyborg.

After all – it was likely Jack Jack who somehow sent Cyborg flying through not one, but two walls. She could hear the fighting on the other side of the broken wall. She wasn't sure what to do and turned towards Kid Flash who seemed like the oldest, only to find him shuddering at the thought of getting in trouble with Batman. "Is it really that bad? Getting in trouble with Batman?"

"Oh, well – yeah."

"He can't possibly be worse than my mom."

"You mean he can't be worse than a mother hen when he is a mother hen?"

"Guys." Robin let out a sigh. "Look, I need you two to distract Cyborg so that I can get onto his back and actually hack into him and remove that programming which is causing him to do all of this." Violet turned towards him, wanting to protest that he should be adding a prefix to the word cyborg, then heard him say. "He's not normally like this."

"Wait. His name really is Cyborg."

"Yeah. Probably not the most creative name one could think of, but someone ended up programming him because he was in the Cyborg form of coma, so to speak."

"And you know this how?" Kid Flash folded his arms across his chest, making Violet wonder why Kid Flash was asking this.

"Can we focus?"

"Oh, yeah. Distraction. I can handle that, but I think I can manipulate at least your kid brother into helping me if I make it look like a contest. It will also be a lot easier than getting your stupid mask back."

Of course, she didn't know _how_ he got Robin's mask back. She still wasn't sure what _she_ should do in the given situation. Robin let out a sigh. "So, um – about..."

"Look. I'm not going to give away your secret identity. After all, you're the one who lectured my younger brother about giving mine away."

"No. Um – about Rachel."

"Oh. The new girl." She glanced at the floor, her hands clenching. " _He has a crush on Rachel, but I'm okay with that, right._ "

"Look. I don't want you to get the wrong idea about her." Which was in truth a weird thing to say. "She was, um – the ghost you and KF saw. That's kind of her abilities, but don't tell KF."

"Wait. Why?"

"Because she's not been introduced to the team yet. Neither has Cyborg. It's – complicated."

"Yeah. Your life seems majorly complicated, but why are you telling me this."

"Because she and I don't want you to think she was making friends with you, because, you know – I knew...."

He was definitely awkward, something she'd not expected for either Robin or Dick Grayson, yet she'd never expected they were the same person. "Knew about my superpowers since those girls poured who knows what onto my head in the lunchroom."

"She's really sincere about the whole making friends with you, but..."

"Could we possibly talk about this later?"

"Uh, sure."

Violet turned, her lips pressed together in a tight line as she headed through the hole herself where she saw her two brothers and Kid Flash distracting the cyborg – the one Robin called Cyborg. " _What exactly am I supposed to do to help distract him_?" Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the fray. Her eyes drifted back to the hole where Robin came out, a thought crossing her mind. " _He has confidence issues as well. I mean, he was so unsure of himself when he had his mask off, but..._ " The thought process continued. " _I kind of get it – feeling more confident with the mask on._ "

Somehow, she turned invisible and picked up an item when she used to hit Cyborg, making him turn to look at her. He turned, that red eye of his looking right at her, as if...

"Oh, shoot." Violet realized then that Cyborg had heat vision that could likely see the heat of her body, rendering her invisibility useless. He swung out at her and she lifted her arms up, intending to stand her ground while becoming visible as her invisibility was as she suspected rendered useless when something unexpected happened – an invisible shield appeared, deflecting Cyborg's attack and making his arm bounce back slightly.

Kid Flash, of course, piped up. "Did you just learn a new trick? Awesome. I wish you had a nickname, though." He dashed away while Dash dashed up with his jaw dropped.

"Cool Vi."

"Seriously? What's with you and giving away my real name?"

"Uh..."

Her attention turned back to Cyborg, who was attempting to fend off an angry Jack Jack when she saw Robin do his thing. She didn't know how he was so agile, given how he ran up the wall or pulled off the flips he did, but she watched him land on the shoulders of Cyborg, this time landing so his legs wrapped around Cyborg's neck instead of his waist, the distraction proving effective in getting him into the position he needed.

"Hey." She looked right at her younger brother who was still as annoying as ever. "Continue distracting him so he doesn't dislodge Robin so Robin can do his thing."

"Distract him. Okay." Dash, of course, did what he did best – Dash all over the place, but Kid Flash did the same, except Kid Flash scooped up Jack Jack much to the infant's delight providing a rather interesting distraction as Jack Jack became a bouncing Jack with the speed that Kid Flash darted him around Cyborg. She kept her shield up, watching Robin put the cord into Cyborg, his concentration on his computer while he hung on. How he hung on, she didn't get, but then the expression on Cyborg's face changed.

"Wait. What's happening?" Cyborg's mind focused on Jack Jack suddenly, making Violet worry, but not for long. "Wait. What's with the super baby? Oh, man! He's adorable."

"Yeah, good to have you back Cy."

"Wait? You know him, Rob."

"Oh. It's you on my back?"

"Yeah. I kind of had to remove some extra programming, but could we focus on taking out the goons of the guy who kidnapped you in order that we might, you know – get done before Batman gets here?"

"Wait? We're in Gotham? And what happened to Trigon?"

"Wait. You mean the incident with the..." Kid Flash pointed his finger at Cyborg. "You're a Teen Titan?"

"Yeah. Robin's also our leader, though..."

Kid Flash's jaw dropped while Violet noticed Robin look rather uncomfortable. She felt a blush spreading across her cheeks, remembering how...

"Robin and..." Thankfully, Kid Flash was quicker than Dash, clapping a hand over his mouth, yet she knew Dash remembered her comment about preferring to date the leader of the Teen Titans over Robin – who just so happened to be Robin.

"What have I said about giving away one's real identity?"

Cyborg held out his hand. "I'm Cyborg by the way,"

Violet took it. "I'm, well – I don't have a codename yet."

Robin patted Cyborg's arm from where he was, yet he seemed quite comfortable remaining on top of the gigantic cyborg's shoulders. "Glad to have you back, though Raven wants me to let you know it's been a whole year since the Trigon incident, but that she's doing fine."

"Wait? Who?" Kid Flash glared at Robin.

"I'm thinking she's the ghost we saw."

"Wait! I knew you did see it."

"Wait? You mean the ghost I missed?"

"None of your business." Honestly, she liked a secret Dash didn't have.

"I'm Dash." Dash took Cyborg's hand and let him shake the guy's hand while Jack Jack started calming down.

Violet facepalmed. " _Why did they have to call him Dashiell of all things?_ "

"Yeah. From your sister's reaction, that's your real name. You really need to come up with a codename kid."

"Yeah, well Cyborg isn't very creative."

"Cyborg was easy for Beast Boy and Starfire to remember."

...which were two other names Violet didn't recognize. Robin let out a sigh. "Guys. The other bad guys?"

"On it." Kid Flash dashed off, then came back. "Done. Now we can get out of here, hopefully before Batman..."

"Oh, it's not Batman who's going to find you, kids, first."

Violet turned her head, swallowing upon seeing her parents, realizing the scene was far from ideal to the three people looking on. She waved her hand at the three superheroes standing there, putting on a fake smile, knowing full well she was in deep trouble. Kid Flash pointed. "Wait. Is that Frozone, like, the one good ice guy I can think of whose a Superhero, and Mr. Incredible and... um."

"Elastigirl."

"Oh. So you were a part of Doom Patrol," Cyborg piped up.

"Wait. What?" Violet watched her father give her mother a strange look.

"My mentor may have been a member of Doom Patrol and I may have taken over her old nickname, minus the hyphen.

"That means you know Beast Boy," Cyborg said

Her mother cleared her throat. "Can we please focus on the fact you kids are out playing vigilante?"

"We're not playing." Robin gave her a serious look. "And before you go off on your children, you should know that Cyborg with weird programming randomly showed up at your house where your youngest's powers activated, so he took off – the extra programmings removed, but now that he's not in a Cyborg coma...."

"Wait. I missed his superpowers awakening." Her mother's eyes widened, then her eyes narrowed. "That's not the point. You kids could have been killed."

"Yeah, well, if you let me finish, Cyborg took off with Jack Jack and your kids..."

"Should have called us instead of taking matters into their own hands."

"So you could chew me out for letting some Cyborg attack our house and let him take off with my baby brother?" Violet pointed at Dash. "Not to mention the fact he just took off."

"Um, guys?" Kid Flash's attention seemed to be elsewhere.

"Seriously?"

Violet couldn't help but notice her father say nothing, but now he was pointing. She turned her head, her blood running cold, but a quick glance around revealed everyone else noticed as well – the presence of Batman. Everyone in the room looked as horrified of the dark hero as she felt – everyone except Robin.

Instead, he bounded off Cyborg's shoulders, doing a one-handed stand as he did so before flipping over and rushing over to Batman, giving the man a rather large grin. "Hi. Sorry for the trouble."

"I'd say you're lucky Raven decided to contact me, but it seems you have everything under control."

"Hold it!" The look of horror on her mother's face faded. "You're okay with them playing vigilante."

"We'll discuss that later. Right now I'd prefer to get Robin and the others home."

Violet now wasn't sure who was more scary – the man in the Batsuit, or her mother in all her superheroine glory. Of course, Kid Flash blurted out, "She-saw-Robin-without-his-mask-by accident."

"Is this true."

Robin, of course, glared at Kid Flash while Violet watched her mother's jaw drop, while her father and Frozone – well, their jars dropped and they simply stared. She watched Robin slip under Batman's cape, almost as if purposefully avoiding eye contact, including eye contact with his mentor

"Well, isn't this a great way to end our first time as actual superheroes." Violet let out a sigh, knowing full well there would be repercussions. Jack Jack was safe, though, and as such she didn't care how grounded she was for their adventure. The problem was – she found she quite liked it. " _Oh well, I guess. I like having more confidence in myself though._ "


End file.
